Foot Falls: New York Isn't Ready
by FoxxStarr
Summary: The Second Installment of the Foot Falls Series. Artemis and Tracey are sent to New York to help the Turtles through a difficult time. Leo/OC Raph/OC. AU because we think the guys kinda got screwed in TMNT: Out of the Shadows. Rated M for language and some sexy stuff
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: Due to a formating error I have to through and manually correct the spacing. If I miss a bit please bear with me.*****

The room they were pushed into was not the Hotel hallway they had started in nearly three months ago. There was no ubiquitous hotel carpeting or generic art on the walls. It was a sterile room, like an empty operating bay and the very lack of color or dimension in the room made them both dizzy for a minute then a voice like every voice past, present and future filled the room. It permeated their minds with a simple statement. "Your work is not yet done." Then the room vanished leaving them standing stunned and reeling in a busy modern street. Sirens blared, horns honked, the cacophony of thousands of voices speaking at once surrounded them, disorienting them and the light drizzle of rain dampened their skin and hair and gave everything a slick shine. Artemis and Tracey gasped when something scalding hot and smelling of chemicals doused them coating them from head to foot and both girls were shoved to the pavement as figures hurtled and leaped around them yelling. Then as soon as it had begun it was over. A hand reached down and helped Tracey up and a familiar voice made her freeze in the act of thanking the helping hand.

"Whoa… like did you girls just teleport or was I seeing things?"

"Mikey don't touch them! They're covered in Purple Ooze!"

Tracey could still feel her world spinning and at different angles she wasn't used to, even closing her eyes didn't stop everything from reeling out of control and she fell back onto her knees. Her hands were outstretched in front of her to keep her head from hitting the cold, solid ground beneath her and her breathing was laborious. She coughed and opened her eyes, blinking several times and looking wildly around for Artemis, hoping she was close by. "Artemis... are you alive?..." She coughed before looking down at the ground again. "I think I'm going to be sick." Right on cue, she wretched horribly and coughed sporadically. When she was finished, she wiped the back of her wrist across her mouth to rid her lips of the bile. Unfortunately while the bile was gone, it was replaced with a gel-like ooze that reminded her of ectoplasm from a ghost sliming or perhaps one of the alien vs predator movie. Tracey looked up at her surroundings and didn't quite know what to think. She sat back on her feet and looked up at Mikey, letting it sink in and she smirked.

"Booyha-kusha." She whispered and then put her head in her hands to try and dull the throb that threatened to lead into a full blown migraine. "Damn this is the worst time for a headache. Artemis, make a noise and let me know you're okay."

Artemis swore violently stringing cuss words together in increasingly inventive ways and Artemis saw Mikey blanch a little at the profanity. She heard clapping and saw

Raphael applauding. "I've never heard most of those words used together."

"None of us have." Donatello said looking a little anxious.

Artemis was on her feet looking like she wanted to hurt something in the worst way. Her hair was sticking out at odd angles from where she'd tried to run her hands through it and Tracey was surprised to note that her friend was wearing jeans, a black T-shirt and a pair of sneakers all thickly coated in drying purple gunk. She visibly tried to rein in her temper and Leonardo approached her cautiously. "Look we need to get off the street and you need to wash that stuff off before it mutates you into something."

Artemis pushed past his nearly seven foot frame and leaned down to help Tracey up checking her eyes. "I think you hit your head when we landed." She said. " Your pupils are pinpoints and I think you have a concussion… or are mutating. One or the other."  
Tracey grabbed Artemis's hand and let herself be pulled to her feet.

"Language please, my sweet, there could be children present." She coughed and gave her a slight smirk.

She looked down at her own clothes and sighed. Tracey realized that her own attire had changed too, she no longer wore the Grecian dress that was given to her by Hercules when she and Artemis had been sent to Ancient Greece. Her clothes now consisted of a white, form fitting shirt with light blue stitching around the hem and flowing sleeves that were weighted down by the ooze. She wore hip-hugger jeans with a corded belt in its belt loops and black boots that zipped up to mid-shin on her.

"Where are we now?" She asked. "Mutating? Oh lord."

"What the Fuck ever." Artemis retorted. "We're in New York City. And yes, we're possibly mutating as we speak so let's take the nice Seven Foot Tall Talking Turtles advice and get off the street and into a shower." She looked at Leonardo. "Lead the way Leo."

He looked like he wanted to object but let it go and opened up a manhole cover letting everyone go in ahead of him before dropping down and pulling the cover back.

"You forgot four teenaged turtles." Tracey heaved, finding her balance again and quickly following behind her.

She looked over her shoulder at Leonardo and then at their passing surroundings. There was puddles of dirty water on all the floors they walked upon and at times they would turn corners and see rivers of the dirty water flowing down channels that led somewhere else. Everywhere she looked it was dark and dank, there was enough moisture on the walls to cause algae to grow there and the smell was rank and caused her to cough several times. The turtles seemed to unaffected by it and she looked at each of them in turn. There were four of them, each anywhere from six to seven feet tall. She and Artemis knew exactly who they were, these turtles were from their favorite T.V show, TMNT. They both could relate to them in one way or another. Tracey, herself, related mostly to Mikey the more rambunctious of his brothers. While Artemis had been deemed a combination of Leonardo and Donatello. Looking ahead of her, Tracey could just barely make out Donatello and Raphael leading the way and saw that just a pace in front of them was Mikey. She looked at him with her head tilted to one side and then gave him a smile when he looked back at her.

He gave her a shy smile back then turned to face forward. He looked at Donny and his brother looked back perplexed. "Dude… why do they seem totally unbothered? Is that normal?" He whispered.

Donny shrugged and pulled up his wrist device. "So what are your names?"

Tracey kept walking straight with them and tried to breath through her mouth so she wouldn't inhale the sour stench of the sewer they were traveling through, but it really didn't help with the awful taste that it left in her mouth. "Sorry about that, I guess introductions are in order. My name is Tracey and my friend and partner in crime is known as Artemis." She said, a sudden thought made her blink and grin. "That was a figure of speech by the way... oh did you guys finish your hip hop christmas album yet?"

Mikey stopped walking and stared down at her. "Whoa… are you like a psychic or something?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Or something." She replied still walking and gave Tracey a 'Be careful what you say' look.

Donny typed the names into his wrist device along with pictures that he took covertly and started searching for them citywide then statewide and finally nationally but came up with nothing which in this day and age of social media documenting every little detail they should have shown up somewhere. Especially since Artemis had a distinctive tattoo on her left forearm and the inside of her left arm had a scar that was very new, he wondered what had made it since it went from nearly wrist to elbow but he refrained from asking. He looked back at Leo and shook his head which made Leo nervous. There wasn't much his nerdy little brother couldn't find.


	2. Chapter 2

They finally left the absolute stench of the sewer behind and entered the open expanse that was their home. Leo made the girls rinse as much of the purple gunk off as they could in a large shower stall in the entryway before he handed them thick long towels and told them he'd find them some clean clothes. He went ahead to warn Splinter they had company and find the clothes and left Donnie, Mikey and Raph to show the girls around. "And here's where we were recording our hiphop Christmas Album but we're kinda not finishing it cause we've been too busy saving the City and stuff." Mikey finished.

"This place is awesome! It's off that chain!" Tracey exclaimed, rotating herself three hundred and sixty degrees to take in everything at once. "Do tell. It must be time consuming keeping things in this city safe and protected." She shivered a little bit from the cold and damp sewer and wrapped her arms around her body, but it would be tolerable until they got some dry clothes. Running her hands through her hair to push it back out of her face, Tracey's expression suddenly turned to one of shock and she looked over to Arty, wondering if she had noticed too. She started clasping at her ears and much to her shock they were no longer pointed like they had been in Greece.

'What the hell is going on?!' She thought to herself, trying very hard not to freak out. 'Our clothes are different, I don't have my elf ears anymore... does that mean I don't have my powers anymore?!' She gave Artemis a look of great concern, but she couldn't ask her anything yet because they were still accompanied by the turtles.

"Oh, we forgot to ask what your names were. I'm sorry, what are they?"

"I think you already know them." Splinter said walking out of a tunnel. "I sensed something in the air. You do not flow with the energy of this world and Leonardo says you behave with familiarity. As though none of this is unusual to you. So tell me the truth. Where are you from?"

Artemis exchanged a look with Tracey and sighed. She used the end of the towel to rub water from her hair to give her a chance to gather her thoughts. "Whatcha think Tracey? Shall we spill the beans?"

With a sigh, she nodded and let her hands fall from her ears and crossed them over her chest. "We don't have any reason to deceive you and anyone here and this story might make us look and sound crazy but I assure you neither is true." Tracey started, standing up straighter and bowing respectfully to the rat master. "But it will sound a little out of the ordinary... though you might be able to handle it seeing as you all have defended New York successfully, twice."  
She took a breath and continued. "We're originally from Tennessee. We were on our way out of the convention center during a rain storm when lightning flash three times and the thunder rolled soon after that and the next thing we know we've been transported to Ancient Greece. We were stuck for about three months before we were able to take care of a big problem there. Artemis and I were hoping to be sent home by Zeus, but that didn't quite go according to our plan. Any questions so far?"

The blank stares were enough of an answer and Artemis took up the narrative. "Somehow we ended up here in your universe. I think we're supposed to help you guys solve some kind of problem. Whoever hijacked us seems to think were useful so odds are we'll be able to help you with whatever problem you're about to face."

"Ok wait a minute. You guys are from another Universe?" Raphael asked incredulously.

"Theoretically it is possible." Donatello cut in. "Especially since Krangs machine worked by opening a portal between his dimension and ours. It stands to reason that that might have caused a weakness in the fabric of reality and allowed these two to pass through."

"So the Interdimensional Portal Opening Thingamabob brought chicks here instead of creepy bubblegum looking aliens?" Mikey asked trying to clear things up for himself.

"Looks like." Donnie replied and brought out his wrist device to scan them. Artemis grabbed his arm pushing it down. "Hey! Interdimensional travel does not equal consent." She snapped. "Do not scan us without permission. We're trying really hard not to upend the cosmic order of your universe. Gods know we probably fucked up the last one we were in and our own is probably royally screwed."

Leonardo frowned. "She's right Donnie, we don't know what impact their being here could have on our universe." He handed Tracey a pile of clothing. "Some of this should fit you two."

For a moment Tracey just stared at the size of his green, three fingered hand, studying him from head to toe as if she was seeing him in the flesh for the first time. Granted it was the first time they had come across the turtles and it was a little different from watching them on T.V. but it wasn't any less cool that she and Artemis were actually meeting them in person. All the turtles were well sculpted for their size and they were by far the most interesting creatures they'd met so far on their little adventure. Tracey then blinked and looked up into his light blue eyes and smiled kindly. "Oh thank you Leonardo, I'm sure we'll find something suitable to wear." She said, giving him a slight bow of her head. "Artemis, do you think we still have our special abilities now that we're here?"

Artemis shook her head looking through the clothes. "I can't use fire anymore which means you don't have your abilities either. Which on the one hand…" She stopped suddenly with a hitch then kept talking. "Is a good thing because damn were those powers…" She stopped again and a strange look crossed her face.

Tracey was about to ask what was wrong when she felt a sharp pain in her gut. She bent over gasping and felt her skin rippling. She could see the skin and muscles of her forearms writhing like snakes. She watched in painful astonishment as feathers began to push up through her skin. She vaguely heard the Turtles milling around and raised voices but she couldn't focus on anything but the utter agony of her body remaking itself. She was down on her knees as her face started changing. She caught sight of her transformation in a polished sheet of metal, he face was becoming birdlike, eyes growing huge and golden. Her face was a mass of hot pain as a wickedly curved beak grew outward from her face and she blacked out for a few minutes. When she came to she was approximately 4 times her original size and a huge pair of golden wings spread out from a feathered leonine body. She felt a tingle along her body and when she shook a spear of lightning crackled outward and hit a pile of pizza boxes.

The boxes were instantly engulfed in flames and Tracey wanted to speak words in protest but all that came out from her beak were high pitched squawks and screeches. She moved her great head around and tried to find Artemis, even bending her head all the way under her chest feathers to see if she was underneath her, if that was the case she stopped moving, not wanting to accidentally squish her. Tracey looked at her talons and then along her backside, traveling her sight all the way down to her feathered tail, two longer, ribbon-like feathers trailing behind her. Shaking a sudden chill from her spine and extending her wings outward, Tracey made the mistake of giving them an experimental flap, thunder rolling outward, but thankfully no more lightning. She screeched again, trying to find Artemis.

While she didn't immediately see Artemis she did see a smaller than average Dragon sitting on top of the Garbage truck the brothers used as covert transportation. It regarded her calmly while the Turtles and Splinter emerged from various places they taken cover. Donatello had his scanner out and was scanning both of them,

Leonardo was helping Splinter up out of a pile of junk. "Donnie, what the hell is going on?"

He winced when Splinter swatted him with his walking stick for swearing but the question still stood. "Uh… It looks as if the mutagenic ooze reverted the girls into mythological creatures… I think this has something to do with their being from a different universe. Its unusual that they aren't in a more humanoid form but are the full creatures but it looks like the mutagenic ooze is a different formula than the original batch."

Swinging her head from side to side, Tracey wasn't so sure she was comfortable with this situation. Her feathers shimmered as she swayed on her massive, taloned feet. She eyed the Dragon with her luminous golden orbs and carefully made her way to it, being careful not to step on anyone or anything, and nuzzled it with her beak carefully. Chirping at it softly, as if to ask if she was alright, Tracey looked over her shoulder at the turtles and master Splinter, surprising herself that she could rotate her head a hundred and ninety degrees, kind of like an owl. She squawked at them, hoping that they might have a solution to this problem.

The Dragon chittered reassuringly and hunkered down like a cat flipping her wings into a more comfortable position. She blinked large Green eyes and seemed calm for all the pain they'd both just been through, Splinter stepped carefully forward and looked up at them. "I am sorry this has happened."

Donnie was muttering something technical as he made his way towards his lab while the other three looked at the Thunderbird and Dragon in their livingroom. "So… we have the coolest housepets ever." Mikey said trying to break the tension.

Tracey shuffled her feathers almost aggressively and tucked in her own wings close to her body, straightening her posture so she stood tall and proud. Shaking her great head until her golden tipped crown feathers stood up on her head, Tracey chirped in Mikey's direction and then swept her long tail around from behind her and a small streak of lightning jutted out and crackled along the ground under his feet, causing him to dance in his place. She looked over to Master Splinter and bowed her head, the tip of her beak nearly brushing the ground in respect for him and the apology he gave them. Both Tracey and Artemis knew that it wasn't their fault and that the turtles would try to help them the best they could, but until they could speak, if there was even a way for them to speak, communication would be very limited. A low rumble in her chest made the rest of her body ripple, it almost sounded like laughter. Tracey had just thought of something, how was April O'Neil going to react to their appearance. She also wondered how and when she and Artemis were going to learn how to use their new bodies and learn to fly.

Artemis in her Dragon form watched the Turtles and Splinter as they discussed what to do or how to help, she still had all her faculties and was trying to think her way around this issue but at the moment she just felt exhausted emotionally and physically. She rested her chin on her front claws and closed her eyes letting her mind wander. She thought about Iolaus and while it hurt it was also one of her best memories. His smile, his laugh and the way his eyes lit up when he saw her. She fell asleep thinking of him but woke up a few minutes later when Donnie came running in. "It's not permanent! They can can change back. There are markers with their human DNA."

Tracey had circled several times in the Turtles' living room and extended her wings in a wide circumference around her, pushing a few things out of her way so she didn't flatten anything. She made herself comfortable on the floor and watched them all for a time before tucking her head under her wing and dozing for a little while, her breathing becoming rhythmic and slow. When Donnie came rushing in, making a lot of noise, she chirped and shuffled her wings, getting to her feet. She could only take a few small steps toward them because of her size, but she heard that their conditions weren't permanent. If they could at least figure out how to go from their mythical form to a more humanistic form and perhaps retain some of their mythical characteristics, that would be amazing. She chirped louder, hoping that Donnie would explain how he came to this conclusion.

Artemis slide down off the garbage truck and slide her whole body along Donnie's like a large cat staggering him before she hopped up onto Traceys back and curled up watching him. He gave a nervous giggle and cleared his throat. "I uh… think it might be mental…"

Extending her wings out to her sides and swatting her tail feathers out, chirping at him for a little more elaboration. She looked over her shoulder at Artemis, her eyes sparkling with hope. Artemis tilted her head and closed her eyes. After several minutes her form blurred and her human form melted out of a pile of shimmering black scales. She slid to the ground crouching to hide the fact that she was completely naked. "Oh son of a bitch that hurts."

Squawking loudly, Tracey shifted her wings and blocked Artemis from sight. She tried to keep her hidden while scavenging around for the clothes that Leonardo had brought for them to pick through for their dry clothes. After she found them she dropped them behind her wing and chirped at the rest of them frantically, trying to tell them to turn away. Tilting her head from side to side, Tracey inspected Artemis to make sure she was okay and looking for an explanation. Artemis dragged on a pair of pants, a bra and a shirt before standing up with a groan. "Ok Tracey… all ya have to do is concentrate on your physical form. Picture yourself as clearly as you can and make it your whole reality. Uh guys, please either turn around or leave so she can transform."

The guys all turned around with various expressions of embarrassment on their faces. And Artemis tugged Traceys head down and stroked between her large eyes. "Come on, just close your eyes and think about who you are."

She gave her a soft, series of chirps that made her chest rumble and did as she was bidden to do. Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind of everything until nothing was left except for darkness. In the middle of all that darkness, a disk of light appeared and standing in its center was her human form. The Thunderbird version of herself swooped down, lightning following behind her as she flew straight for the disk of light and disappeared into human Tracey's chest, vanishing completely. With an anguished cry of pain, Tracey opened her eyes and realized she was on the floor again, her body curled in on itself and her hair hiding her face. She shivered and looked up at Artemis with a slight smile at her success before she grabbed around for some clothes too. "Damn that hurts." She breathed, snagging underwear and a bra before taking a pair of BDU pants and a black tank top.

She laced up a pair combat boots and tried to stretch out her sore muscles before they hurt too horrible. "Well that was a clusterfuck of fun... If we could find a way to revert to our human so that it doesn't entail a lot of pain, than I could get used to this."

"Honey we went from being human to a completely alien physical form back to human in less than 24 hours. On top of being spun out of one universe into another. We should be unconscious right now." Artemis wrapped an arm around her waist and sighed.

"You are speaking my language Artemis... What time is it now guys? Don't worry, you can turn around now, the coast is clear now." Tracey said, putting her head in her hand before combing her fingernails through her hair to untangle it.

"We should probably see what the rest of these clothes can do for us and clean up our purpley oozed ones so we can use those again." She blinked tiredly and her stomach growled a little in protest and Tracey placed a hand there to try and silence it. A sigh escaped her lips and she looked at Artemis, rolling her eyes.

Artemis smiled slightly and chuckled as the guys turned around. She eased them both down onto a couch and Splinter hobbled over to look at them he touched Artemis's shoulder gently and she flinched but didn't shy away. He pressed carefully on a few points on her shoulders and neck and she relaxed as the pain seeped away. He did the same for Tracey and told the boys to find them something to eat. "You two will need rest." He said sitting down on a footstool across from them.

"Thank you Master Splinter, you are most kind. I can honestly say the kindest, talking rat that we've ever encountered." Tracey said, giving him a lopsided grin and scratching the back of her head with a sigh. "We greatly appreciate everything you're doing for us, though you don't know us very well." She knew that the pain had only temporarily subsided and it would come back, but hopefully without a vengeance. "If you guys don't mind Master Splinter, we'll probably just commandeer the couch if you have blankets we'll be fine with those."

He chuckled and waved a long fingered hand. "Don't be foolish child. We will find you a bed."

Leonardo brought over a plate of sandwiches and a couple of sodas, he gave them both a hesitant smile as he set them down. "April is always trying to get us to understand that girls don't always want to eat Pizza." He said.

Artemis smiled. "Tracey would eat cardboard if you covered it in mayo and cheese. I on the other hand have a stomach issue that means I can't eat pizza." She took a sandwich gratefully.

"You can't eat it… like ever?" Mikey asked looking shocked and a little horrified as he sat down cross legged on the floor.

Artemis shook her head. "Never ever."

Donnie drifted over and started to ask a question but stopped when he saw they were eating. Raph was trying to appear as if he weren't paying attention but Splinter could tell his that his hot tempered son was very curious. All of them were, aside from April and Casey Jones they had few friends, it was something he mourned for his children. Mikey was looking like he wanted to cry at the thought of never eating pizza again and Artemis patted his shoulder. "It's alright bud, I don't care if everyone else eats it around me so enjoy."

He looked a little surprised at the physical contact from a relative stranger but smiled his sweet sunny smile at her. "Thanks Arti!" He paused and ducked his head. "Artemis."

She laughed and patted his shoulder again. "Most of my friends call me Arti. I'm ok with it."

He grinned and got up to find something to do while Leo and Donnie sat down with Splinter. Leo looked at Tracey and tilted his head. "So you know a lot about us, are there versions of us in your world?"

"Maybe not cardboard so much my dear." She laughed, opening her soda and wetting her lips, thankful that the soda was cold and refreshing. "But I guess I have to get my fiber somehow." Tracey smiled and moved to sit cross-legged on the couch and proceeded to brush a few crumbs from her lips and take another small sip of her orange crush soda to wash down the sandwich before she spoke, nodding to his question. "We know a lot about you, your brothers, Master Splinter, April, Casey and the villains you all have fought so far." She answered with a smile, she looked at Artemis before continuing. "We can't give you a lot of details but we can tell you a little about our world... We don't want to screw with the timeline very much or things could only get worse. You and the other turtles are actually shows that we watch in our world, but believe me when I say that that doesn't make you guys any less amazing now... You all have some pretty sweet moves. It could come in handy too. I don't suppose you would be willing to train us up a little, I could use the teaching. Artemis not so much because she's got several black belts in a few martial art styles. I'm more of a mediator and first aid type of specialist, she's the butt kicker and sometimes a lot like Raphael..."

Tracey looked over at the largest, macho turtle decked out in red and muscle with a smile. "No offense meant, I do speak the truth though."

He shrugged. "I kick ass." He confirmed and sized Artemis up.

He knew it was stupid to assume that because she was a girl and human that she wasn't a strong fighter, a few of the Foot Clan were women and they were good fighters but she just didn't look like she'd be able. All the women he'd met who were ass kicking fighters were lean and hard looking. Artemis was… he flushed a little thinking it but he let the thought finish. She was sexy, all soft curves from breasts to hips and ass. She had long legs so he supposed she'd be a kicker but she just didn't look like a fighter to him and Tracey made him think of Donnie, she was more slender, more delicate looking. He glanced at Leo and saw that his more strategic brother was coming to some of the same conclusions. Mikey just seemed happy to have someone new to talk to and try out his lame pick up lines on and Donnie hadn't looked up from his displays long enough to realize they were really girls. Raph snorted and shook his head before looking at Master Splinter. Of all of them their dad could spot a skilled fighter and he was wondering what he was seeing. He realized his brothers were asking the girls questions and a lively conversation was happening around him, it wasn't like him to be so lost in thought. Leo had taken the plates and empty cans into the kitchen and Raph followed him in, since the Technodrone incident Raph had been trying to learn more strategy, it had bothered him that Leo had told him he was all muscles no brain so he was trying to prove his brother wrong. He leaned against the counter and looked at Leo. "So you think they're full of it or is it legit?"

Leo looked out into the living room and shook his head. "They know too many details, and Artemis is editing a lot of what she says. It kinda freaks me out how much they both know."

Raph nodded and crossed his arms. "Think we can trust them?"  
"I want to say no, we've never seen them before and they did just appear out of nowhere but my instincts keep telling me yes." Leo rinsed the plates and set them aside to dry, of his brothers he was the tidiest. "We need to figure out how to reverse the new ooze. Them being able to turn into a giant bird and a dragon can't be good for the city… and it won't be much good for them either if the government gets involved."

"I dunno, maybe we should see if either of them is any good in a fight. Could be useful to have them fight with us against the Foot Clan and then turn into a big ass bird that spits lightning." Raph cracked trying to make a joke.

Leo snorted and headed back to the living room. "Yeah maybe."

Artemis had stopped answering questions and was staring off into space looking exhausted, Tracey kept yawning in between answers and Splinter stood. He looked at Leo. "Leonardo, do you mind if the girls use your bed for the moment. Yours is the only room I feel certain is clean enough for guests."

It was a mild reproof to his other three sons but he knew that it was the way of teenagers to be generally messy. Leonardo had always been a very orderly boy though and he knew his Eldest son kept his room clean. Leo nodded and motioned for the girls to follow him. "I don't mind."

When he opened the door Artemis's first impression was that Leonardo should have joined the military, everything was so clean and in a precise order. The bed was even made with military corners, he grabbed a couple of things off the desk and shoved them into a drawer and gave them an awkward smile. "We'll try to keep the noise down." He promised.

Artemis gave a half smile. "At this point you could drive a tank through and I'd sleep through it. Thanks Leo."

She patted his arm as she passed him and he felt a little strange. Up to now physical affection had been limited to his brothers who stopped hugging when they were five and the very seldom occasions when April gave him a brief hug. April wasn't really a physical toucher and since she'd started dating Casey they'd been firmly relegated to the Brother Box. He almost wished Artemis would pat his arm again but he pushed it aside and left the room. Artemis flopped down on the huge bed and sighed. "Gods I'm so tired." She groaned.

"Yeah, thank you Leo." Tracey yawned, trying to hide it behind her hand while trying to pull off an upward stretch at the same time. "You said it Arty. I think we both could sleep through an atomic bomb going off without batting an eyelash." She closed the door behind them and then inspected Leonardo's room, a slight smirk on her lips. It reminded her a little of her own room at home, all neat and tidy.

Everything had a place and everything in its place. She noted to two katana blades pegged above his desk, polished until they gleamed. Beautiful and well kept as they were, she could see her reflection in the blades and she nodded her approval. Looking over her shoulder at Artemis, Tracey laughed and kicked off her shoes, putting them neatly next to the wall along with her socks and glasses, those she laid on top of the socks so as not to break them.

"Scoot your tired ass all the way over." She yawned again, poking her gently in the side for some encouragement. "If you even think about hogging those covers, you're going to wake up a pancake in the morning... see if I'm not joking."

Artemis snorted and rolled over to the far side of the bed. "There's more than enough blanket for the both of us." She wiggled under the blankets not even bothering to undress aside from taking off her shoes and glasses. She sighed and relaxed letting her mind wander as she fell asleep.

Splinter watched Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello wander one by one to their bedrooms and looked at Leonardo sitting on the couch with a book. His sons had all had a shock and they were handling it as well as could be expected. These women, for that's what they were, grown women with the confidence of adulthood were here at a critical time in his son's lives. The boys were about to turn 18, and had already faced challenges that most adults would have been unable to handle but they had no other adults besides April O'Neil and Casey Jones to draw experience from, Casey Jones was still as much a teenager in mind as his sons and April was still struggling to find her own place. These two women had grown into themselves and knew who and where they were in the world. He hoped that they could be the example his sons needed.


	3. Chapter 3

Tracey snapped awake and a quick look at the clock on the table showed that it was only 6am but she was as wide awake as if it had been noon. Artemis was curled into a ball under the covers still dead to the world. And dead to the world Tracey would let her stay, she knew how aggravated Artemis got in the wee hours of the morning and the more hours she got of sleep, the better her mood would be for that day. Tracey muttered curses under her breath about work, early mornings, and her need to be up and moving to do something productive when all she really wanted to do was sleep. Wishing that she didn't have a morning routine that involved waking up early in the morning to go do anything else other than sleeping, Tracey carefully pushed back the blanket from her body and grabbed up her glasses, socks, and put on her shoes. She left the room and gently closed the door behind her to keep from waking Artemis, the door only creaked softly, but Tracey stood frozen in place. Looking around she found that no one was disturbed by the noise and straightened her posture. 'I think it's time for a little exploration.' Tracey thought to herself and picked a random tunnel to go down.

Choosing the one off to her right, Tracey followed the flow of water, being careful not to get wet but also glad that the soles of her boots were rubber. She walked along the grates, following the designated path before coming out in a room surrounded by water. The grates had been placed over the water to create an island of metal in the middle while a pathway led back up the way she had come. Soft lights in the water made it glow an ominous blue color, but she somehow felt it was calming and let out a quiet breath. Tracey took off her shoes and socks and place them to the side by the entrance before stepping into the center of the metal island, her back to the entrance. "I wish I had my water element here too." She sighed before closing her eyes and holding hands out in front of her. Curling her fingers into fists at her middle,

Tracey slowly unfolded the fingers of her right hand until they were flat and slid them over an invisible surface, her breathing completely even as she moved. She continued to shift her weight between the stances with ease, moving as if she still had control over the water around her, but knowing it was useless. This calming exercise continued for another hour and a half, even though the entire time Tracey was unaware of how much time had really passed.

"I have not seen such movement before. What is it called?" Splinters soft voice asked from several feet behind her.

Without stopping her movements, Tracey opened her eyes and continued to move without breaking form or her breathing. "It doesn't have a name Master Splinter." She answered quietly. "I use it as a form of meditation and it works for me. I was able to manipulate water before Artemis and I came here... I kinda miss it."  
He stepped forward and watched her for a moment then began to mimic her movements. They moved in meditative silence for several minutes until Traceys stomach gurgled unhappily. Looking down at her stomach, Tracey let her hands fall until they covered her middle to try to silence her grumbling. She giggled and straightened her posture.

"Thank you for joining me Master Splinter, I'm going to make some breakfast before everyone wakes up. It's the least we can do while we're here. Do you have any preferences?"

He smiled and started back towards the kitchen. "I have always enjoyed pancakes, and I happen to know we have a stash of thick cut bacon hidden in the refrigerator inside a container of salad greens."

Tracey put on her socks and shoes again and followed him to the kitchen. She couldn't help herself and soaped up a rag so she could clean up the counters and pull things out so she could get the pancakes started. Measuring out the pancake mix, Tracey added the eggs and milk and mixed everything together. Taking a ladle, she dolloped the mixture into two pans and began to cook a few mountains of the delicious cakes, mostly because if the turtle brothers were anything like her three brothers, they were going to eat a lot. "You have to hide the bacon too? I have to do the same thing for my brothers too. All three of them would eat me out of house and home if I let them."

"I've learned to keep certain foods hidden if I want to have some." He chuckled and washed his hands before he started slicing fruit to go with the pancakes.

Eventually the smell of pancakes and bacon brought all four boys to the kitchen. "Aww sweet. Pancakes and bacon! This is like Christmas!" Mikey said with glee.  
Turning from the hot pans on the stove top, she smiled and set down large plates of pancakes on the table followed closely by bowls of fruit and syrup. "Please sit and eat all you want Mikey, but it's not Christmas." Tracey said, bringing over orange juice and cutlery for all of them. "Artemis and I just wanted to thank you for your hospitality."

"Speaking of Artemis, where is she?" Donnie asked looking around as if he expected her to pop out of the ground.

"Best to let her sleep Donnie, it could be hazardous to your health if you wake her before she's ready. If we make enough noise to wake her and the dead, I can guarantee you the dead will be the least of our worries." Tracey said, taking her own seat and grabbing a few pancakes for herself before they could be whisked away and consumed. "I can make more as needed."

The boys were halfway through their second helping of pancakes when Artemis emerged from the bedroom, she was dressed, her hair was finger combed and she looked reasonably awake. Only Tracey knew the telltale signs of Artemis's 'I'm not totally awake.' expression. She slumped onto one of the high stools around the counter and blinked owlishly at everyone. Splinter took pity on her and came up with a red can of coke from somewhere. He didn't like the boys consuming caffeine but on occasion he himself needed a pick me up so he'd hidden a few cans for himself. Artemis gave him a grateful smile and cracked the can and took a long drink. "Oh sweet nectar of the gods." She groaned and pressed the can to her forehead. "I loved Greece but I missed caffeine."

"So uh… how'd you sleep?" Mikey asked, not sure how to interpret her mood.

Artemis grinned at him, the coke perking her up quite a bit. "I slept great. So what's on the agenda today?" She looked over at Tracey.

Tracey looked up from the diminished pile of pancakes on her plate and set her fork down and snagged the last piece of bacon before she had to fight anyone for it and chowed down on it happily. She licked her lips when she was finished and downed her orange juice to wash everything down. A delightful 'ah' escaped from her and she patted her stomach and leaned back on her stool with a smile.

"Happy belly." She said with a smile. "I guess when you're more awake, we'll go topside and have a look around, but I personally would take another night off. As you like to point out a lot, I live in the fast lane and should slow down, so I think we should take another night off and relax, besides..."

Tracey looked up at the ceiling as if she could see the sky through the layers and layers of concrete and pavement to the sky way above them. "It's going to be stormy tonight..."

With a blink and a slight shake of her head to break her trance-like state, Tracey smiled and collected up the dishes, taking them to the sink so she could start washing, drying, and putting them away. "What were you guys hoping to do today?"

"Training." Leo said as at the same time his brothers said; "Videogames, Chemistry and Basketball."

Leo sighed and Artemis chuckled before taking another sip of her caffeine. "Well I need to go topside to pick up some supplies."

"You have money?" Mikey asked looking a little surprised.

Artemis smiled. "Not yet. Do you guys have a printer and some cardstock?"

Donnie nodded. "I built it myself, it's 4 times more efficient in terms of ink usage and since I adjusted the jet output the colors come out much cleaner and…"

Raph groaned and interrupted. "So how ya gonna make money with cardstock and a printer?"

Artemis smiled enigmatically. "I'll show you once I've finished. Donnie can you help me with your computer?"

He grinned excitedly and the got up, Artemis carrying her soda with her, to his workshop. Raph looked at Tracey. "You know how she's gonna do it?" He asked.  
Slowly Tracey turned and looked at Raph from the soapy water and dishes, an expression of complete and utter disbelief on her face.

"Oh my sweet, sweet Raphael. The day I know what's going through Artemis's head is that day that the world stops rotating and hell freezes over." She laughed and finished the dishes and turning to the other Turtles. "We'll just have to wait and see what she's up to, but if I know Artemis, it'll work."

They looked at each other a little confused but Leo shrugged and they headed off to their respective corners of their home. Artemis and Donnie finished the project she'd had him help her with and cut out the cards. "Hey Raph! I need a guide to the surface and a card table and folding chairs!"

He grumbled but gathered up the table and chairs while Artemis found a cloth she could cover the table with. "Tracey, I'll be back in a few hours!"

"Okay Artemis, I'm going to hang out down here. Please be careful and let me know if you hear anything that will involve us later in the future, lord knows I'm starting to not like surprises." Tracey said, waving her out of the tunnel and sighing. "Hm, what to do first... video games or training? Because I know I can't play basketball to save my life."

She shrugged her shoulders and threw her hands up in the air in defeat. "Living in Greece was wonderful and all, but no electricity has really killed my gaming skills and I need to level them up again, but then again learning a new fighting style could be useful especially with whatever might happen to us in this universe. Though I could just zap the crap out of my opponents, but that won't help us get answers... oh what to do what to do... training or video games, training or video games... screw it! It's video games!"

Tracey walked back into the living room and watched Mikey frantically jabbing buttons and jumped over the couch, settling herself on the cushions and watched him for a time before she couldn't take it anymore and grabbed the other remaining controller and hit 'Start'.

"I'm sorry to have to do this Mikey, but watching you get your butt kicked by a game console and not by me is hurting me." She said, selecting her character and then stopping to contemplate what she had just said and shrugged. "I hope you knew what I meant... oh well, prepare to have your butt kicked now."

"Oh you're on!" He bounced and the game was on.

Leo and Donnie shared an exasperated look but went back to their own activities while Artemis and Raph headed up to the surface. Artemis looked at Raph. "Let's set up in Central Park." She said and trotted after him as he led her through a series of sewers and tunnels.

He checked the grate and then helped her up through it handing up the table and chairs. He hunkered down to watch her through the grate and watched her spread the cloth over the table the tied a bandana around her hair and pulled her shirt down to show off her cleavage. She set out a sign and a basket and started shuffling the tarot cards she'd made. "Come learn your future. See if the love of your life is true, learn your destiny! Come get your fortunes read!"

He gaped up at her, was she seriously going to make money telling fortunes? A pair of feet approached the table and sat down across the table. She started the tarot reading and for the next 4 hours was kept busy enough that Raph had to reconsider his stance on the mumbo jumbo. She took down her sign and started lowering the table and chairs down to him and then slid down through the grate. "That was a surprise." He said looking down at her.

"Didn't think I could make money telling fortunes?" She asked with a grin.

"Not really. I mean… I thought that was old time movie stuff." He rubbed the back of his head and shrugged.

Artemis took the bandana off and rearranged her shirt then started counting out the bills and stuffed the coins into her pocket. She handed him a ten dollar bill and grinned again. "Pack mule's cut." She said and stuffed the rest in her pocket.

He laughed and stuffed the money in his own pocket. "Hey if you keep paying me I'll carry anything for you."

Artemis picked up the basket with her wrapped tarot deck. "Lead the way mule."

When they arrived at the lair Artemis and Raph were met with an unusual sight that made Raph almost wish they'd left Central Park a little sooner so he could have watched the events unfold. Tracey in full Thunderbird form had Mikey pinned under her talons and was using him to sweep the floor. Artemis walked over to Leo while

Raph put away the table and chairs. "So… what started this?" She asked.

Leo had his arms crossed over his chest while he watched. "Tracey beat Mikey for the 45th time in a row and he got a little… heated… about it. They were rough housing and he pinned her down… so she transformed and well…" He motioned to the scene in front of them.

"How long has this been going on?" Artemis asked sticking her hand in her pocket.

He checked the clock and shrugged. "About 8 minutes."

"Would you like it to stop?" She asked drawing out a handful of change.

"How are you going to stop her… I mean look at her, every time I got near her she zapped me." Donnie asked coming up beside them.

Artemis grinned and shook the change in her hand catching Traceys attention. Traceys head swiveled around huge golden eyes looking over at her. Artemis shook the change in her hand again and Traceys large head cocked to the side and she chirped. Artemis looked at the brothers as Raph moved up beside them. "Stand clear." She said with a smirk and cast the coins out onto the livingroom floor where they rolled in different directions with pings and clatters. It was quite a sight to see, a giant Thunderbird shuffling in a sizable fluff of feathers across the floor after the coins. Tracey suddenly chirped loudly several times as she spread her wings wide and she crouched down low, preparing to acquire the coins. Her talons clicked on the floor tiles as she suddenly let Mikey go, her tail feathers flowing behind her as she plucked the coins and collected them into a single pile. A rumble low in her chest soon escaped her throat in a mighty, victorious cry. She fluffed her feathers again and settled herself low over the pile of coins, talons on her feet clicking menacingly as if to dare them to come closer for her shinies.

Artemis huffed out a laugh and walked towards her reaching up and tugging her beak down to pet the feathers on her forehead. "Come on you, back to human form and give me back the coins. I need to go get supplies."

Tracey jerked her head back out of Artemis's reach and squawked a little, balking that she had to give back the shines. Plucking the clothes she had to discard in order to transform, Tracey chirped at the boys and they turned around, not needing a repeat of their first embarrassment with the transformation encounter. Picturing her human self again, Tracey let out a dying cry as she slowly morphed back into a functioning human form and her cry became more pained and she heaved for air. When the torment was over, Tracey picked up her clothes and quickly dressed before picking up the coins and hesitantly handed them back to Artemis. "The pain was totally worth it, I kicked Mikey's butt and you can turn around now." Tracey said, handing Artemis back the coins. "How did you and Raphael fare up top? And what supplies do we need?"

Artemis shoved the coins into her pocket and grinned. "I made about two hundred bucks playing gypsy. We need toiletries, hairbrushes and red ninja stuff."

Leo straightened and frowned. "Red Ninja? Where?"

Tracey's eyes widened and she face-palmed her face into the palm of her hands. A look of absolute horror washed over her and she glared at Artemis. The other Turtles suddenly became on edge as if they were waiting for these Red Ninjas to pop out from nowhere and attack them. "And you told me to watch what I say!" Tracey gasped, waving her arms around wildly. "Don't worry guys, you have nothing to worry about anything, it's just something that Artemis and I have to worry about. And apparently I have to worry about Artemis and her big mouth."

Artemis gave her friend a droll look and sighed. "Woman, only you would go banana's over menstruation. For gods sake they're guys not aliens." She looked at Leo who had a dismayed look on his face and laughed. "Leo if you hang around women long enough you'll have to deal with it sooner or later. We just need some ladies supplies."

Donnie looked up from his wrist device. "Well there's a walgreens a few blocks away that has an excellent selection of sanitary napkins, pamprin and other menstruation supplies and you'll be able to pick up anything else you need."

He glanced around at his brothers who had various expressions of disgust and dismay on their faces. "What? Human biology is a fascinating subject and I've always been fascinated with the reproductive system…" He trailed off realizing his interest was not shared in the least.

For a moment Tracey's face softened and she couldn't help but laugh a little and patted Donnie's shoulder reassuringly. "The miracle life is always an interesting topic to talk about and Artemis can relate to that. You should talk to her about her son Eryk, that little boy is a smart cookie and has a lot of character." She said, giving him a kind smile. "Thank you for the directions Donnie, we shouldn't be too long and when we get back Artemis and I will make some lunch. Come on Arty, let's go."

Tracey suddenly stopped and turned to Mikey to give him a fist bump. "When you want a rematch..." She laughed. "Or your butt handed to you again, you know where to find me."

He bumped her fist and grinned. "Oh we'll see who gets whose butt." He replied then pause. "Wait…"

Artemis laughed and led Tracey out into the tunnels. Leo looked at Raph and shook his head. "I don't know who we should worry more about… Them or Mikey."

Raph shook his head. "Worry about Mikey. Art is a hustler, you shoulda seen her. She was telling fortunes with these weird cards and people were eating it up." He shrugged and headed towards the exercise room.


	4. Chapter 4

Artemis and Tracey made their way towards the Walgreens senses feeling overwhelmed by the noise and bustle of the city. Artemis winced and sighed. "Gods I miss Greece."

"I have to agree with you Artemis, Greece was so beautiful, unlike New York." Tracey said with a nod, looking around at all the cars and trying to block the cacophony of sounds from her head. "I never really could picture myself living in a place like this."

She let out a sigh and nodded. Greece in its own right had a certain charm about it and she had to say that is was different from their universe and this one. She wouldn't mind going back or at least finding a place that was a little more peaceful like Greece. "I do miss Hercules and Iolaus and I have a feeling this is going to be a thing for any more worlds we visit or when we get home... I must say our lives have gotten a little more interesting since going to the convention."

Artemis opened the door to the walgreens and let Tracey go in ahead of her. "Yeah… interesting." She muttered and grabbed a basket. "Hey… did you hear a voice just before we showed up here?"

Tracey blinked as the sudden memory suddenly popped into her head and she nodded. "Yeah, I did hear a voice... It said something about not being finished yet." She replied, starting to walk down the aisles and picking up a few needed items and passing them to Artemis. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who was hearing voices, but this time it's not the other voices in my head."

She let a soft giggle escaped from her lips before she could stop herself and she looked over at Artemis to see what expression her face held. "Who do you think the voice belonged to?"

Artemis was examining the product label of a bottle of shampoo her face serious. "No idea, but they have to be incredibly powerful to reroute us. Zeus is pretty powerful so being able to reroute us is pretty impressive. That kinda limits the suspect pool."

"Guess you haven't heard of anyone who would have that kind power, have you?" Tracey asked with a sigh and took a bottle of her normal shampoo and conditioner. These she put in the basket and following it would be a new brush and a satchel that she wanted so they could pack up their essentials and take them anywhere and everywhere they traveled to next... hopefully it would be home, but for some reason she doubted it would be. She went an over to the next aisle and grabbed some toilet paper and a small package of hair ties that she and Artemis could share. "I think that's about it... Can you think of anything else we might need?"

Artemis added her own bath products and a brush as well as a satchel for herself in a contrasting color. "Never lump all your supplies together." She explained then grabbed pantyliners, tampons and a small pack of pads as well as a pack of travel sized bottles before heading to the small clothing section. She grabbed some panties and and socks. "Pick yours. We can make due with the cloths the guys found for us but panties and socks are really something you don't want second hand." She went to the first aid section ad picked up two sets of first aid kits as well as some pre threaded suture needles then picked up two wallets and grabbed a case of coke on their way to the register where she snagged two disposable cellphones that came with 60 minute prepaid cards. While they waited in line Artemis spoke softly. "There are a few Gods that could be powerful enough. The Elder Gods that existed before the more modern pantheons came into being but I don't really know much about them. I'll have to get Donnie to help me do some research."

She paid for their supplies and split the remaining cash between the two wallets handing one to Tracey before they headed out of the store. They went to a nearby cafe and Artemis started packing the satchels, each held an even mixture of both their items except for the brushes. She portioned shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face wash into the Travel bottles so they each had some of their own products and some of the others in each bag. As Artemis packed she explained what she was doing.

"Never store all your supplies in one bag. You never know if you'll lose one bag or have it stolen so it makes more sense to play it smart and put some of everything into each one. I have the feeling this is just the start of our little misadventure and I don't want to get caught unprepared again." She borrowed the cafe phone and activated both cell phones and programed the contacts before handing Tracey hers.

She smiled at Tracey. "Want to order a snack while we're here?"

"We might as well, but we better make it quick though." Tracey replied. "Believe me my sweet, I loved being in Greece, but not having the essentials that we needed for Red Ninja was ridiculous! I thought I was going to die without my Red Ninja supplies and I do not want to go through that again. By separating the supplies into two different bags, we can be better prepared ourselves and keep all of our stuff together. I don't like cluttering up Leo's room and he has been so gracious as to lend us his room."

Upon getting to the front of the line, Tracey ordered herself a BLT and a small drink, wanting to save as much of the money as she could so it would last them longer. She didn't know if and when they would need more later and if she would need to find herself a job too. Telling fortunes was Artemis's thing and she was good at it, but what would she do? When it came time for Tracey to find a job, then she'd worry about it, but until that time came she'd just save what she can and collect all the coins she could get her talons on. "I hope that we're able to find out which God is doing this so we can ask him to stop, but for now, I'm just happy we can help where we can."

Artemis speared a forkful of salad when they sat back down at the table and snorted. If Greece taught you anything it should have been that the Gods do what they bloody well want when they bloody well want to." She finished a mouthful and stared out the window at the busy city. "I'm going to do a few hours of fortune telling for the next few days but we should lay low. Trouble will find us soon enough without us going looking for it; I pulled the Tower Card when I did a reading for myself. Thats sudden and catastrophic change ." She sighed and took a sip of her drink.

"Yes because this sudden change in lifestyle and traveling around to different universes doesn't count as a sudden catastrophe." Tracey muttered, digging into her BLT wolfishly and using her napkin to take care of any smears of food while she ate. "No need to worry about me staying low, I will probably go to my little meditation area and see if I can't play with my new ability for a while. I want to figure out what all my brain will come up with and how I can manifest it into useable weapons." She touched the satchel at her feet, making sure that it was still there and that it was close at hand.

"Get the guys to teach you some more fighting techniques. I'm going to see if I can get back into practice too. Artemis finished her salad and started to get up then sank back down and leaned in with a huge fake smile. "There are three Japanese men behind you, one of them is carrying a gun." She murmured. "Giggle like I made a joke."

Having quickly eaten her food and wiped her mouth, Tracey suddenly let out a laugh and clapped her hands together to show she was completely taken with giggles. She didn't need to question what Artemis had in mind because she trusted her, but she did want to know what their new query looked like, but she'd sneak a glance at them inconspicuously. Tracey's reached down and picked up her satchel bag, placing it in her lap and taking out her disposable cell phone.

"I'm going to take a quick selfie and save it for a scrapbook that I want to make later." She said with another quiet laugh.  
She lifted the phone up and quickly snapped a picture, letting out a light laugh before replacing the cell phone in her bag. What Tracey had really done was take a picture of the three Japanese men without really drawing attention to herself and by doing so, she'd work with Donny to figure out who they were and who they worked for.

"What's next my dear?" Tracey asked in hushed whisper, looping the satchel's strap over her shoulder and making sure it was secure.  
Artemis leaned down to grab her bag and 'accidentally' knocked her melted ice onto herself. "Aww dammit." She groaned. "I'll meet you out by the car, I need to go clean up. Just don't go dropping down any holes on me huh?" She spoke in an exaggerated New York accent and got up headed towards the bathroom at the back. The Japanese men were by the counter surreptitiously watching the two girls. As Tracey left one of them peeled off from the group and casually followed her out looking down at his phone.

Artemis ducked through the door that read Exit and saw the bathroom door and the back exit which warned that an alarm would sound if opened, she checked the bathroom and shook her head, the window had a wire grate over it. 'Back exit it is.' She thought and slide a piece of receipt paper between the contacts between the door frame and the metal bar tricking the door alarm into thinking it was still closed. She cautiously slipped through the door and looked around for the storm drain she knew was nearby. With any luck Tracey was already in the storm drain.

Figuring that at least one of the three men were going to follow her, Tracey walked at a steady pace, not wanting to draw anymore attention to herself and stepped into a nearby salon, just two minutes walking distance from the cafe she and Artemis had just been eating in. She asked one of the ladies if she could use the restroom and was redirected to the back of the shop just as the Japanese man peered inside and then followed. He saw Tracey nod to the lady before vanishing to the back, unfortunately for him, he was stopped from going further by the owner, who asked him if he had an appointment. 'Sorry sucker, I'm not that easy to catch.' Tracey thought with a smile playing on her lips.

Instead of going to the bathroom, like she told the lady she was doing, Tracey disappeared out the back door and into an alleyway. She quickly looked around, judged that it was safe, and slipped through the manhole cover. Sliding it back in place and waiting in silence for a moment, Tracey was sure that no one was following her and moved off, holding tight to her satchel. She used her mental map of the streets above her to back trace her steps and stopped at a corner in the sewer. Tracey took a breath and peeked an eye around the corner and saw that no one was there. She quietly went to the storm drain and cautiously looked through the grate to see that Artemis was still above ground. "Pst! Arty! Down here, hurry." She hissed, waving her hand a little. "Better hurry, I don't know how long it will take those creeps to realize we're not where they thought we'd be."

Artemis slid down into the storm drain and grinned. "Nice job. Let's get back to the lair." She retraced their route back through the sewers until the came out into the Turtles home. Raph and Leo converged on them within seconds. "Do you guys know how long you were gone?" Leo asked worried.  
Artemis set her satchel down and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, two hours."

Leo blinked at her at a loss for words when Raph stepped in. "Look I know you guys had to get chick stuff but it ain't safe topside."

Artemis snorted and smiled. "Preach it brother, we had some admirers."

"What?" Leo asked and moved in closer.

"Tracey?" Artemis asked motioning for her to show them the picture.

Tracey brought her satchel around to her side and opened it, fishing around for her cell phone and drew it out, stopping for a moment and crossing her arms over her chest. "Okay, just because we're new here to your world, doesn't mean we can't take care of ourselves. So remember to breath and have a little faith in us." She said, giving them a slightly fake, hurt expression before flipping through the phone's pictures and clicking on the one she wanted. "Hey Donatello! I need you if you have a moment to spare for me."

She held up the phone and blew up the photo a little before handing it to Leo. "These three were admiring us from afar and I don't think it's because they thought we were pretty." Tracey said, pushing back her hair and shaking her head. "They tried to be smooth about what they were trying to do, but failed miserably."  
Donnie came out of his workshop with bits of wire hanging off his shell and an extension cord trailing behind him. "I have a few minutes." He said mildly as Leo examined the picture.

Donnie looked over his brother's shoulder. "Oh, those are the Mikana Brothers. They work for the Foot Clan, lower level errand boys and kidnappers." He pulled up their files on his wrist device and blew them up into holograms. "Takana, Renji and Shojo Mikana, triplets. None of them is very bright but if you want someone snatched they're pretty good at it."

Tracey rolled her eyes and looked at Artemis while shaking her head. "It sounds like Greece all over again my dear... Gonna have to keep a really low profile for a while. But it's good to know at least three of our opponents' faces." She said, patting Donny's arm and giving him a friendly smile. "Thanks Donnie, that helps us a little. Whenever you're not busy, I'd like to know more about the foot clan, there's only so much we were able to find out in our world... Guess it chill time, hm?"

Artemis sighed. "We're just so popular." She retorted and walked over to sit on one of the barstools at the counter.

Leo nodded to his brothers and they left Donnie taking Tracey with him. He sat down next to Artemis while she cracked open a coke and sipped it. "So… what happened in Greece?"

Artemis set her can down gently and turned to look at him, he was so much bigger than her but he was so young. She turned her back to the counter and leaned on it twisting one of her rings around her finger. "We got dragged to ancient Greece to stop an even more ancient God from rewriting history. In the process we both got kidnapped and we were both hunted by an enemy we knew next to nothing about. In the end it came down to self sacrifice and love to stop the Big Bad from winning and now it looks like we're gonna have a rerun here and I am so not up for it again."

He looked at her then forced himself to stop seeing her as a human to protect and to really look at her, she looked tired and angry and sad. He could understand the first two but not the third so he decided to focus on what he could understand. She was tired of running, of being hunted and she was angry about it all. He let go of his own irritability over what he had thought was their recklessness and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, we'll help you all we can, we just need to know how."

Artemis sighed. "If I knew I'd tell you. I haven't really had a chance to formulate a plan yet."

"Why don't you let me. I know a lot more about the Foot Clan and it's kinda my thing." He asked and smiled to let her know he was only half serious.

"I think I just might. Just keep Tracey in the loop will you? She hates being left out or ignored and she's pretty smart." Artemis stood up and squeezed his fingers.  
Tracey was far from being left out in Donnie's lab, he had pulled up everything they had on the Foot clan on two of his four large monitors and was letting her click through it all while he went back to his experiment. When Leo walked in he pulled a chair up beside Tracey and leaned an elbow on the desk. "Look, I'm sorry I jumped you back there." He said quietly.

Continuing to scroll through the information, Tracey's clear blue eyes darted here and there when she spied useful tidbits, it helped to have an eidetic memory, or at least a good eye for detail as Artemis liked to poked at her for, but it was all in good fun. Tracey did this for a few moments longer before stopping and looking over at Leonardo, tilting her head to the left, scanning his face before looking into his eyes and nodding. "You're forgiven on one condition..." She paused, a faint smirk on her lips as she turned around and faced him from her chair.

He regarded her warily. "What condition?" He asked.

"Will you teach me how to use the Katana?" She asked, her smirk becoming a smile. "I've always wanted to learn ever since I lived in Japan, but at that time I was too young and my parents didn't want me to accidentally stab myself in the foot."

He blinked surprised. "I don't want you to accidentally stab yourself in the foot either. And Katana takes years to learn much less master." He leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. "I'll teach you the Boken while you're here. The principles are similar."

For a moment Tracey pouted, her bottom lip poking out but she nodded and smiled. "Deal, but I warn you now, I'm a quick study. Perhaps I'll even surprise you." She said, glancing back at the computer screens and beginning to take in the information on the foot clan again. "I insist on a duel before too much time passes, just to see how well I do. I'm pretty confident that I can best you at least once."

He chuckled and shook his head. "We'll see." He said and nodded to the computer screen. "What are you looking for?"  
"Well one of the good things about being back where there is electricity I can finally gather intel. I'm looking for anything we can use like building blueprints, places that might have weak points such as the basement storage facilities." She replied, a sudden idea entering her mind and made her crack her fingers in excitement. "I wonder how easy this will be."

Poising her fingers over the keys, Tracey looked at the keyboard and then looked back up at the screens and took in a deep breath before letting it out and beginning. Her fingers flew over the keys, tapping them gently and almost in a blur. The definite strokes and precise movements of her fingers as they moved made Donny look up from his task and watch her, his mouth gaping slightly when he realized what Tracey was up to. She opened a file labeled 'TCRI' and delved right into it, the keyboard clacking. The lines of code reeled under her fingers as she took them apart and scanned them all quickly and putting them back together when she didn't find what she was looking for.

"Oh where, oh where, are you my little ghost file..." Tracey sang under her breath, eyes scanning the screens wildly until she saw the bit of a code that she had never seen before. "Ooooh what's this?!" Clicking the code, Tracey tapped a few select keys, plugging in her own mess of algorithm and watching as the ghost file opened. Quickly before anything else happened, she threw up a lock and cloak program to keep the file from being deleted or even missed by the TCRI company. Her lock and cloaking program would also keep Donny's computers from being hacked and traced back to their sanctuary too, so all was well with their world. "Elizabeth Hacker, eat your heart out!" She said, laughing maniacally.

"Elizabeth Hacker?" Donny asked coming up behind her and reading over her shoulder.

Tracey leaned back in her chair and smiled at him. "I like to write stories and In one of them, Elizabeth Hacker is just as her name labels her. She's a hacker for the government and a damn good one." She replied with an even larger grin on her lips. "I thought it was appropriate to say here." She laughed again and pointed to the Ghost file.

"Don't worry about your computers, I put up a defense perimeter around all your systems and no one alive can hack my fire walls. Plus TCRI won't even notice that the original file is missing and what they have is just a copy. If they try anything with it than we'll be alerted to any changes and if we need to, we'll destroy their file and it'll take them ages to make a new one. By that time my program will be able to duplicate the new one for us and the process will start all over again." Tracey blew on her fingers and rubbed them on the front of her tank top, looking quite pleased with herself. "Booyah-kusha!"  
Donnie sat down at his keyboard and started clicking through files. "This will take some time to go through." He murmured his eyes fixated on the files and Leo stood up.

"Come on. I'll find you a Boken and I can start your lessons."

"Lead the way Sensei." Tracey grinned, sliding out of her chair and following Leo. "Have fun Donny! I'll be back in a little while to see what you've found out and let me know if anything gets flagged."

Tracey had to double her strides to keep up with one of Leo's. She didn't mind though and followed him to a very spacious room with a raised platform in the middle. Around the walls were various weapons, including Claives, quarter staffs, throwing stars, throwing knives, Sai, Katanas, and others that she didn't recognize. "Sweetness." She whistled, looking at everything, including the descriptive tapestries around the walls too. "This will be awesome!"

Leo had to smile at her enthusiasm and handed her a wooden boken sword and started teaching her the basic stances and sword positions. Two and half hours later Tracey felt like her bones and muscles were made of rubber and she was exhausted from the drills he'd been teaching her. His watch beeped and he called a halt to the exercise. "Its after sunset, my brothers and I need to go on patrol, we can pick this up again in the morning."

"Hai Sensei." Tracey answered, bowing at the waist in the traditional fashion and letting out a relieved breath. "It will be storm tonight, tomorrow as well and I think that would be a perfect time to figure out these wings. Of course I'll talk to Artemis, but the cover of the storm will definitely help keep us from being spotted." Carefully placing the Boken sword back on the wall for her use tomorrow, Tracey turned back to him and smiled. "Thank you Leo. We should have dinner ready when you and the guys get back."

"Better make that breakfast. We probably won't be back until around 3am." He smiled and handed her a jar of something the color of brown mustard. "It'll help with the aches." He said and left her to her own devices.

When Tracey went looking for Artemis she found her sitting cross legged on a pillow near Splinter praying in front of a candle. She was a little surprised, he friend wasn't usually very devout, at least not in their own world. She wondered if it had something to do with their trip to Greece and then their subsequent ejection. Artemis had been praying a lot in Greece. She decided it would be best to leave her friend to her prayers.

After waving off the boys and telling them to be careful, the rest of their sanctuary was quiet and slightly eerie, besides the steady dripping of water from somewhere she couldn't see, everything was quiet. Tracey shrugged her shoulders and winced as the sore muscles ached in protest at the movements. She half smiled through the pain and figured Leonardo hadn't been kidding about the aches and pains. They had stretched everything before starting the training, Leo had insisted upon in, knowing full well how labor intensive the training was going to be. "He wasn't kidding in the least." Tracey mused, rubbing her shoulder and gritting her teeth. "A hot bath and the ointment will do the trick I think."

Upon further exploration, Tracey found the showers after she went back to grab her bathroom supplies and fresh clothes from her satchel in Leo's room. She doused her aching body with warm water and let it rush over her body and take away the weariness from her completely. A soft sigh of content escaped from her lips and was replaced by a smile, a moment longer in the water and she proceeded to wash her hair and body. Tracey only stayed beneath the water for about twenty minutes before shutting it off and used her soft towel to dry off and wipe off her face. Unstopping the lid from the jar of ointment Leonardo had given her, Tracey dipped the first two fingers of her right hand into the mustard like paste and dabbed it onto her shoulders before rubbing it in. The paste began to heat up pleasantly and then cooled once the muscles had relaxed, she found this to be most agreeable and used a little more on the rest of her joints before putting on fresh underwear, a bra, and her pajamas that consisted of baggy pants and another tank top.

'Time to make some dinner and hopefully by the time it's done, Master Splinter and Artemis will be ready to eat too.' Tracey thought to herself, going to hang up her towel and take her stuff back to their shared room.  
In no time at all, Tracey was back in the kitchen washing rice and vegetables. She set a pot of water to boil on the stove top for rice and was cutting up the vegetable she was going to use in the stir fry, lightly seasoning them. Everything was going smoothly and while the food was cooking, she washed off the table, brought out the soy sauce, and set out the cutlery, a fork for herself and chopsticks for Artemis and Master Splinter. About twenty minutes later everything was finished and Tracey brought out some bowls and placed them on the counter beside the pot of rice. She shut off the heat on the stove and went to get Master Splinter and Arty. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but dinner is ready."

Master Splinter was alone in the quiet room and looked up with a smile. "Thank you Tracey. Artemis has gone to shower, I'm sure the smell of wonderful food will draw her to us in no time."

He wasn't wrong. Artemis came out a few minutes later her hair wet and slicked back from her face and grinned. "Oh lord that smells amazing!" She dished up a bowl and sat down eating eagerly.

"So girls… would you please share with me your experiences in Greece? I have read about it and it sounds like a wonderful place but to speak to those who have been there would be a lovely thing." Splinter watched them with eager anticipation plan on his face.

Artemis waved at Tracey with her chopsticks still eating. "You tell him. You're the better storyteller."

A light laugh escaped from Tracey and she dabbed at her lips with her napkin before putting her fork down. She nodded and pushed her empty plate away. "If it will let you eat your food in peace I will do that." She said, relaxing with her arms on the table. "Okay for starters Ancient Greece has a lot of good points and bad areas that we found out after about two or three days. Besides being kidnapped, beaten within an inch of our lives, and having to beat around a particularly nasty spirit, would all be bad points, but..." A sudden thought made her giggle.

"Except beating Demos, that was a plus point. If you can imagine the weather there was beautiful when it wasn't raining. Most of the time it was sunny, a warm breeze with the smell of flowers were always pleasant. The grass was lush, the trees were tall, and the water flowed in great rivers and streams that had plenty of fish. The people were happy and they worked hard for their families. It was mostly a farming communities and there were never dull moments when the Greek heroes Hercules and Iolaus were traveling around. We traveled with them for a time and learned a lot from them, including some fighting skills. Believe it or not we actually had abilities that corresponded with the attire we were wearing at the time and that was strange but came in handy."

Splinter nodded sagely and set his empty bowl aside picking up his cup of tea. "You walked with Heroes. Was it all you had imagined it might be?"

Tracey smiled and tilted her head to the side for a moment in thought.

"I have to say it was fun to hang out with them. Going on the same adventures as Hercules and Iolaus was amazing and slightly dangerous but it was an eye opener to many things and a learning experience for the both of us." She answered, raking her fingers through her hair. "We've had to adapt to every new experience and be more flexible with whatever new abilities we acquire, if any at all. For whatever reason this higher power keeps sending us to these different universes, I can only hope that it, or they, will continue to see fit to give us the special abilities that we need to complete our tasks."

Splinter looked at Artemis who didn't really seem to be paying attention to the conversation and he cleared his throat. She looked over at them eyes refocusing and he gave a gentle smile. "What of you Artemis? How was it for you to be so close to the Gods you pray to?"

Artemis took a sip of her soda before speaking. "I tend to pray to the Norse Gods and a handful of Shinto Gods. The Greek Gods tend to be a little too capricious but I have to admit it was heady stuff. I could feel them, so much closer than ever before, like a faint hum in the air…" She stared off into space while she spoke. "I've felt it a few times in our world and time but… never so strongly and it felt so good to have my belief validated." She blinked and looked a Splinter her dark eyes steady and serious. "I can't feel them here, even after praying and it's like an empty spot in my soul."

He reached over and patted her hand gently. "This is not your world child. Your belief is still real and the fact that you feel their lack in your soul proves to me that they are genuine in your homeland. Don't doubt them just because you are here."

Tracey turned to her friend and concern crossed over her features as she rested her own hand on her arm. Her eyes searched Artemis's face. She had always had a small inkling that she was upset about something but until now she hadn't had the heart to ask her about it. 'I always knew you would tell me when you were ready.' Tracey thought to herself. "They will always believe in you so long as you are faithful to them... perhaps the experience you're having with your connection to your Gods is in relation to the time and place. I mean since you prayed to the Shinto Gods, if we get sent to Japan or any of the Asian countries then I would guess that your ability to sense them would be stronger."

She stood up and took the empty dishes to the kitchen to clean the dishes and put away the food so it could stay fresh and delicious for the boys if they decided to eat that instead of the breakfast that she'd be sure to wake up early to make for them.

Artemis thought about it for a few minutes then nodded. "You're probably right. I'm going to go topside again tomorrow morning to earn some more capital." She leaned back in her chair and looked around the room. "Hey Tracey, how's your Boken training going?"

Tracey looked up from the dishes and nodded with a smile. "I may be sore, but Leo is a hard but fair sensei. He keeps me on my toes and we do get a breather every once in awhile but we're right back to it. The Boken sword is a little awkward in my hands, but I think I'm getting the hang of it... I might try another weapon just to get a feel for them." She looked back down at the warm, soapy water that was up to her arms in before continuing.

"I'm looking for my personal weapon of choice, something that feels right in my hands. Master Splinter, you should be proud of Leo, he has a lot of good qualities that makes him an excellent leader."

Splinter smiled and nodded. "He is an excellent leader and I had hoped he would be an exemplary teacher."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Tracey… you're the least confrontational person I know. What's got you so determined to use a weapon?"

"I may be a very passive aggressive person, but like I said before, we have to be flexible with our abilities whenever and wherever we might get sent to. I don't like feeling helpless and I really don't like having to depend on other people to defend me and keep me safe... besides, I need to learn sometime and this just seem like the perfect opportunity." Tracey replied, having thought about this a lot since they had gotten to Ancient Greece. "What if the next place we get sent to, we don't get abilities? I know that anything can be a weapon, it's just finding the right one for me to use is what I'm looking for. Something that won't cause too much harm to my opponents, just stun them long enough for me to tie them up or make my own escape. I don't like to hurt people, but I don't want to give anyone the opportunity to hurt me or the people I care about." With that said, Tracey finished the last of the dishes and wiped her arms dry on the towel. "I'm done being the weak one of our group and it's time for a change."

Artemis got up and went to her friend wrapping her in a hug from behind and resting her chin on Tracey's shoulder. "Honey, not being a fighter doesn't make you weak. Being able to see things from others points of views, being the peacemaker, being all the things you are is a strength. An incredible strength that not many people have, you are so far from weak it's not even funny." She smiled and kissed Tracey's cheek.

"Besides if you become a kickass fighter you won't need me."

Resting her hands over Artemis's arms around her waist, Tracey smiled and shook her head. "Not a chance my sweet, I will always need you. Be it for being a kick ass partner or a partner in crime, I will always need you for something."

Tracey looked up at the ceiling again, the hairs on her skin sticking straight up and that made her grin slightly. She patted Artemis's hand and stepped out of her embrace.

"It's starting to rain... I'm going to go topside and figure out these wings." She said quietly, her grin widening. "The storm will be perfect cover and everything will be fine."

Artemis grinned. "Oh perfect, I'll come with you."

"Awesome! I'll grab my satchel so we can put our clothes in it to keep them from being ripped and go to waste." Tracey replied nearly bouncing around the kitchen. "By your leave Master Splinter, I hear the thunder rolling and calling our names."

With a quick bow, Tracey took off like a rocket and raced back to their shared room and grabbed her bag. She hurriedly dumped the contents out onto the bed and then arranged them nicely, not wanting to give the impression that she was a messy person by any means. Packing plastic bags so they could wrap their clothes up, Tracey packed them into the bag and took hers' and Artemis's cell phones too. Thankfully before Donnie left with his brothers, he had programmed a special, untraceable number for them to use as needed.

"I'm ready." She said to herself and shut the bedroom door before heading to the hidden entrance where the boys kept their garbage truck for other missions.

Artemis held up a hand. "I'll change first and you can strap the bag to me then you change." She stripped out of her clothes and stuffed them into a plastic bag which she packed into the satchel.

"Ready when you are my dear." She said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Tracey nodded and did the same, rolling up her own clothes and tying up them in the plastic. She shivered a bit when the cool air brushed over her warm skin and made goosebumps rise on her arms.

Artemis concentrated and slipped from human form into a small black dragon with glowing red eyes. She flipped her wings and shook stretching her limbs then hunkered down next to Tracey with a deep rumble in her chest. Checking the satchel's strap again, Tracey was satisfied that it was secure and looped it around her neck. She put two fingers under the the strap to make sure it wasn't choking her and then she let everything around her fade into black. The echoing call of the Thunderbird rang throughout the darkness and Tracey felt something rush past her, trailing thunder and lightning with it. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Thunderbird hovering in front of her and she nodded, opening her arms out wide to her sides in a welcoming embrace. "To me, mighty being, I welcome you."

The bird called to her again and flew at her, its body engulfing in lightning as it charged toward her and vanished into her torso. When Tracey opened her golden orbs, she let out a soft chirp and shuffled her feathers, making herself appear larger than she really was. Her talons clicked on the floor as she moved to the garage door.

Artemis made a soft purring noise and walked out into the electrically charged air. She checked to make sure they wouldn't be seen then launched herself into the air, her black scales blending into the dark as another flash of lightning seared the sky. She beat her wings and flew higher, higher and then finally burst out above the clouds into a star filled sky.

With her sight keener than any humans, Tracey's golden orbs picked out Artemis's dark form against the clouds even as she vanished. She shifted on her talons again and stretched out her wings, feeling the muscles stretching and retracting. Calling out to the sky, Tracey took in a deep breath and flapped her wings again, feeling herself lift a little. She took off at a trundling jog, her wings outstretched and flapping to gain some lift. With another mighty call, Tracey launched herself up and beat her wings at the same time, creating the power she needed to take flight. Thunder rolled as she drifted over the river and the wind rushed through her feathers, carrying her up. Tracey's two, ribbon-like feathers trailed behind her and she tried to remember that she had to keep flapping her wings to keep herself up, but the feeling was thrilling. 'So this is what birds feel like when they're flying so high.' She thought, looking around for Artemis again.

Artemis was flapping her wings slowly in an oval motion like a humming bird keeping her hovering just above the cloud cover. She had her head up, long serpentine neck stretched out looking up at the moon, when she noticed Tracey she craned her neck to look at her then gave a high sweet trumpeting call and changed her wing beat taking off trumpeting again, a challenge to play tag.

'Oh it is on!' Tracey looked up and spotted her against the dark sky. Inwardly she was smiling and she let out a sky shattering cry that could be heard over the thunder as it rolled between the clouds. Tracey beat her wings rapidly and shot upward, her tail feathers streaming behind her as she moved, flowing like waves. They darted and wove in and out of the sky, but every time she got close, Artemis darted away. Tracey figured that with her small size and stream-like form, Artemis was able to maneuver herself more efficiently. She herself, was large in form and had muscles to back up her size, but she wasn't going to sell herself short. Tracey banked sharply and dove down, hugging her wings tightly to her body and gained momentum. She opened her wings as she saw the water drawing closer and leveled out, swooping up again and then leveling out so she could dip her talons in the water before springing up again and soaring up into the clouds again. 'This is what freedom feels like!' She thought, letting out more cries of happiness. 'Now to get Artemis.'

She climbed into the sky and vanished, the clouds and rain completely obscuring her from all sight and there she waited. Blending in perfectly, Tracey silently searched and then spotted her. She circled once and dove downward, stretching out a talon, Tracey's reflexes were swift and she gently encompassed her scaly form in her talons. Beating her wings, she drew her up and nuzzled her with her beak. 'Gotcha.'

Artemis gave an undulating rumble that sounded like a laugh then she squirmed and wriggled out of her grasp and shot off towards the center of the city as the rain and thunder and lightning filled the air with music and lights. Her red eyes glowed like balefire ad with her black scales against the dark she looked like a demon streaking through the night. She slowed and started scanning for the boys. Tracey followed, thunder rumbling behind her as she beat her wings and soared forward. Her beats changed when she hovered above the city, helping to try and spot the boys. Chirping rapidly to Arty, Tracey drew her head down and to the right, over to the empire state building where she saw movement. Tracey flew over to it and circled over it just out of sight in the clouds.

Artemis hovered near her watching the Turtles who were getting thoroughly soaked by the rain and from the look of it, arguing about something. Artemis moved a little closer and squinted at Tracey and for just a second Tracey thought she heard her friend's voice in her head. "Can you hear me?"

"Oh no! The voices in my head have finally broken through my defenses... oh wait it's just Artemis." Tracey said, looking over to Artemis and tried to alter her features to make it look like she was smiling. "I can definitely say that this will make communicating easier... How should we proceed with the boys? Land and help them dry off, give them a slight scare or teach them how to fly?" Their movements were quiet and stealthy, not drawing attention to themselves.

"Wait...slow… didn't catch…" Artemis's voice came through like bad radio reception and she flicked her tail in frustration.

"This will take some getting used to." Tracey answered, looking down at the boys again. "Do you want to play with the boys? Teach them how to fly perhaps? Or be nice and keep them out of the rain?" She tried to speak slower and make her words clear, but it was tricky.

"I want to give them a scare." Artemis replied and instead of words she pictured what she wanted to do which came through much more clearly than words.  
She wanted to fly in close as silently as she could then have Tracey backlight her with a lightning bold as she roared and let her eyes blaze as bright as possible. She would look like a demon with the lightning behind her and her black scales shining in the light with her red eyes blazing. "Perfect then I'll grab Raph from behind... he needs to get over his fear of heights anyway." Tracey said with a grin. "I'm ready when you are."

As another streak of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting it up brilliantly, the thunder rolled in soon after, letting them know that they were entering the heart of the storm and that would be perfect for what they were wanting to do. Tracey quietly suppressed a snicker as her great wings beat and kept her in the air, bringing with it tremendous gusts of wind. She waited until Artemis was in position before she swung her tail feathers forward and unleashed a heavy strand of lightning, watching it streak away in front of her. Thunder bellowed soon after and she gave a great cry of amusement when the boys flinched at the sounds and jumped at the mere sight of Artemis. Raph had even drawn his Sai and Mikey was shifting on his perch, looking between his brothers for what they were going to do next. Artemis swooped in and bowled the boys over with an undulating cry that sounded like she was laughing, it had the effect of separating Raph from the rest of his brothers so Tracey could grab him. As she did she projected images at Tracey of taking him above the cloud cover so he could see the bright moon and the wash of stars like chips of diamonds. She told Tracey in images to show him the wonder of flight and the beauty of his city from the air while lightning danced around them but to ease the rain so it didn't obscure the sight. "Make it magical." She managed to say in her friends mind.

"Oh it will be." Tracey returned, a smile playing at the edge of her beak as she tucked her wings close to her body and tucked her wings close.

Dropping from the sky, Tracey circled around and caught Raphael from behind, clamping him gently in her talons and calling softly to the others before vanishing upward again. She felt Raphael wiggling and had to tighten her grip on him to keep from dropping him, luckily he got the message and froze up immediately, a well muscled arm locked tight around her leg, just below the line of feathers circling there too. Rain streaked down but Tracey's feathers remained dry, the soft down rippling in the wind.

Unfortunately Raphael wasn't lucky with that though, the rain trickling over his green, muscular frame and over his shell. "Ease up a little Raph." She chirped, leveling out her body as they pulled up out of the clouds. "I want to show you something beautiful."  
Here there wasn't any rain and the stars glittered in the sky all around them. The moon shone brilliantly above them and the light danced over Tracey's golden feathers, making them glow dully. Her eyes fixated on the moon, bedazzled by being able to be so high up and observing it so near.

Raph had stopped struggling and was desperately trying not to vomit at being up so high, he really did hate heights and it just about paralyzed him, his eyes were squeezed tightly shut but when Tracey leveled out his curiosity got the better of him and he carefully opened his eyes and stared at the moon. Being down in the city, even at the top of the higher buildings the pollution he was so used to blocked out the stars and dulled the moon's glow but up here above the city and the clouds he stared at the blanket of stars and the soft white radiance of the moon. The terror that made his heart race eased a little until he looked down and saw the city under him, his hand gripped her leg a little more tightly as he dangled a half mile above the ground. "Oh god, oh god, oh god… this is too high Tracey!" His voice was high with fear and he hated that just as much as he hated the fear of heights.

She gave him a little shake to jolt him out of the fear and he watched as lightning raced across the clouds to his left. He was so stunned to see it so close the fear receded and he felt the rumble of thunder in his chest. More lightning, more thunder and he watched rain stream down racing towards the ground. He felt some of the fear again but he found that it was having less effect on him; he could feel the slight rise and fall as her powerful wing beat holding them aloft. His eyes caught sight of a streak of red and Artemis streaked upwards her sleek dragons body shooting up through the clouds and as she broke the cloud cover she spread her wings silhouetted against the moon and he heard her piercing call just as a crack of lightning sent sparks of light across her scales. He watched her fold her wings in close to her body and she plummeted down and his heart skipped a beat until he saw her open her wings again and tilt downward in a spiral. He laughed and felt the remaining fear seep away as she beat her wings and returned hovering in front of him green eyes glittering with humor.

A rumble deep in Tracey's diaphragm was expelled from her body in a victorious cry and she nodded her great head in approval before curling in on herself until she reached her talons. She kept up the steady beat of her wings to keep them in the air and gently opened her beak to tenderly encompass Raph's shell. He was hesitant at first, clutching at her feathers until she wiggled her head a little to dislodge his grip from them, losing the feathers in the process. She swept her tail feathers around and kicked up some wind in his face to show her displeasure with him and then rotated her neck around so she could deposit him at the base of her neck. He could sit comfortably in between she shoulders if he settled down a little and there wasn't much of a place to hold onto without taking out feathers, but he was able to get a firm enough to where he wouldn't slip off.

"This isn't so bad, but I will get you for those feathers you plucked." She squawked, looking at him with her eye that were lit up with the light from the moon. "I would hang on if I were you."

Suddenly Tracey stopped beating her wings and arched them backwards, twisting her body around and spiraling downward, passing Leo, Donnie and Mikey who were stunned to see Raphael and Tracey flash passed them. She let out another trumpeting call and lightning streaked past them and through the clouds above them. Tracey weaved in and out of the electricity and thrilled her to no end, her heart beating with adrenaline and her breath taken away with the lightning. By the time Tracey had started to run out of energy to keep flying Raph was whooping in excitement. Artemis had taken the other three on very short flights of their own but she didn't have the bulk to do anything more strenuous and was curled up on top of the building resting while Leo watched Donnie analyze her physiology with a scanner, Mikey was reading a comic book sitting next to her and she was reading over his shoulder when Tracey came in for a landing.

"Okay this is going to be interesting... hang on." Tracey chirped at Raph over the rushing wind.

Looking forward again, she started to slow her decent, fanning out her tail feathers under her to create the drag that she needed. She began to flap her wings in a back lash and extended her legs and talons forward to aid in her landing. Upon landing, she trundled forward less than gracefully, but who could blame her, it was her first landing after all. Tracey ruffled her feathers and shook all over, only stopping when she looked like a super-sized puff ball of golden and white feathers. She gazed at each of them in turn and chirped happily.

"So how's it going guys?" She asked, spreading out her tail again and giving it a quick shake and scattering some left over rain droplets from her feathers.

"Leo… I think she's actually trying to communicate, the cadence and frequency of her chirps resemble the same ones that Mockingbirds and even parrots use when speaking human words." Donnie motioned to the readout on his wrist device.

Artemis looked at Tracey snaking her long neck out and making that undulating chirp that sounded like laughter again; she was laughing at Tracey and her half lidded eyes looked amused. She looked back down at the comic book Mikey was reading and rumbled in her chest. "Artemis doesn't seem able to create the same kind of vocalizations, I wonder if that has to do with being lizard like...or would it be serpent like? Dragons don't have a classification of either species so…"

He kept playing with his device cataloguing the results and muttering in scientific terms while Leo walked over to Raph who had dismounted and clapped him on the back. "How was the ride?" He asked with a grin.

"Oh man Leo… that was a rush. It's so clear up there." He laughed and shook his head. "I actually stopped caring about the height and just enjoyed the ride."

Tracey looked at Raph and then brushed her wing up the backside of his head, letting him know that she still hadn't forgotten about the feathers that he'd pulled out on her leg. She looked over at Artemis and Mikey and tilted her head to the side to inspect them and nodded, chirping a few times as if she was laughing with her. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky and the feathers on her body ruffled and she shook her entire body to rid of herself of the chill that washed over her. Scuttling toward Donnie, her talons clicking on the roof structure, she looked down at him and his highly advanced technology and shook her head.

"Your tech must be water proof for you to be out here in this with it." She chirped, trying to form the words but not knowing if she was getting through to him or not. "Damn language barriers."

Donnie didn't react to the chirping and Artemis flipped her wings before she projected a fragmented thought to Tracey. "They don't… us… no telepathy… don't speak… Bird."

She shuffled her feathers, stood up to her full height and let out a frustrated cry that echoed in the night and then was masked by a rumble of thunder. The pain of transforming was always in the front of her mind and she shook her head, not wanting to transform yet and she stalked away from Donny flapped her wings. She looked over at Artemis and shook her head. 'Perhaps a voice modulator...' She thought, looking out over the city and listening to the traffic below. 'I'll have to play with the idea with Donny when we get home...' She looked up at the moon and watched it for a moment.

Leo and Raph were watching the goings on in the street but the heavy rain was keeping the criminal element inside. Artemis was drowsing coiled up under an overhang and Tracey saw two thin streamers of either smoke or steam rising from her nostrils. She reminded Tracey of a big cat coiled up the way she was. Sauntering over to Artemis, Tracey brushed her wing joint over her and chirped quietly. It was like she was beckoning her to awaken so they could go back to their temporary home for the remained of the night. Tracey gently used her wing to pat each of the turtles on the head before turning to the edge of the roof top and shuffled she body from side to side to see what would be the best way to launch herself and get back home. Artemis shifted and watched her friend get ready to fly away and yawned showing all of her sharp teeth before she stood and followed Tracey. She leaped off the roof and soared away leaving the turtles watching them. "Dude… I want wings." Mikey commented.

The chilly wind rippled through Tracey's feathers as she soared over the clouds and within a short time she and Artemis were landing on a building near the entrance under the bridge where they had left from. Cautiously she looked around, using her keen eyes to look into the shadows and nodding when nothing was out of the ordinary. Hopping down with a few flaps of her wings and a shuffle of her tail feathers, helped Tracey to land the rest of the way to the ground and she stalked up to the entrance. She used her talons to punch the correct buttons to open the door and then made her way inside and waited for the door to close behind them before picturing her human form in her mind and gasping in pain as her bones snapped and popped back into place.

"Gah! Now I know what it feels like to be a werewolf." She gasped, doubled over in pain and breathed heavily.

Once she recovered, Tracey walked to Artemis and took the satchel from around her neck. She stepped off to the side and grabbed her clothes, not liking the cold air on her skin without something to break it before it touched her skin. Tracey dressed quickly and took out Artemis's clothes too, knowing she was going to want them as soon as she transformed too.

Artemis shifted her form breathing hard and wincing in pain. She held out a shaky hand for her clothing and dressed quickly. "Oh gods I feel like I just packed 4 days of hardcore exercise into 1 hour."

"Mmm! I have something for that! I'll grab the ointment when we get to our room." Tracey replied, looking at her own shaking hands and rubbing them on her pants.

"Compliments of Leo and his Bekon lessons. My arms and shoulders were really sore, but now I don't feel much. Though I expect I will in the morning with as heavy as Raphael is in the ass." She laughed and shouldered the satchel before turning on her bare feet and heading for their room.

Artemis laughed and followed her dropping onto the bed with a sigh. "So tomorrow I'm gonna snag Leo and have him watch my back while I go topside to earn some money."

Tracey dug through her neat pile of personal items and then tossed her the small jar of ointment that Leo had let her borrow. Putting her stuff neatly on the desk,

Tracey hung up her soaking wet satchel and would let it stay there till it dried and then sat on the bed, pushing back her hair from her face. "I'm thinking some meditation after breakfast is in order for me, but this time I'm going to play with my lightning. After that I'll practice Boken until I need a break." She said, letting out a sigh. "If Donnie is awake later than I'm going to try and develop something that will allow us to talk to the boys while we're in our other forms... we wouldn't have such a language barrier then."

Artemis rubbed some ointment into her muscles and laid back on the bed. "Sounds good." She said drowsily.

"Sleep well Artemis, I'm going to brush my teeth and then I'll go to bed." Tracey said, getting up and grabbing her toothbrush and paste.

She went to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and then went back to their room and changed her clothes for sleep. The last thing she did was set her alarm for 2:30 am, that way she could get up and get breakfast ready for the boys before she went to do her meditation. A yawn suddenly overcame her and she took off her glasses and set them beside her phone. In a last act before sleep completely took her, Tracey pulled the blanket over her and then passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

Tracey ended up sleeping through her alarm and woke up when she hear Master Splinter moving around. Her phone read 7:30am and from the near silence in the lair no one besides herself and Master Splinter was awake. Upon checking her phone, Tracey's eyes widened and she shot up out of bed without waking Artemis who was always a heavy sleeper. Grabbing her clean cloths, she quickly changed and opened the door, again making sure that she didn't wake her friend and then left for the kitchen. Tracey listened for any other sounds, but was surprised that she hadn't been woken up when the boys got back from their nightly sentry duties. She was the lighter sleeper of the two of them and she should have woken up when her alarm went off or the boys made, but she didn't. Stepping into the hall and pacing quickly on silent and bare feet, Tracey made her way to the kitchen and looked around.

"I wonder if the boys will get up if I start cooking now or if I should wait and meditate a little now... hm so many choices." She thought out loud. "Well at least I could get some tea started."

Master Splinter smiled at her from his chair, he was wearing a pair of headphones and she saw a popular soap opera on the TV. Leo was sleeping on the couch his mouth half open. Splinter had thrown a blanket over him before sitting down to watch his stories. Tracey could hear Snoring from Mikeys room and a faint sound of a keyboard from Donnies. She didn't hear anything from Raph's room but she assumed he was asleep. Tranquility reigned this early in the morning. Tracey let out a soft laugh and shook her head at Leo's and Mikey's sleeping situation and then bowed in respect to Master Splinter. Afterward she went into the kitchen, she started to head up a kettle of water and while that was heating up, she took a tea carton from the cabinet. She took a few pinches from the carton of tea and put it in the teapot so it could let that steep until the tea was perfect. Looking through the cabinets, she found a few cups and put them on a tray. The kettle gave a small, sharp whistle and Tracey snatched it up, turned off the gas so the kettle wouldn't wake Leo up, and then poured the water in to let the tea steep until it was ready. She knew how important sleep was and they needed it. She only put a little sugar in a teacup for Master Splinter and then a little more in her own before adding the tea.

"Here Master Splinter." She whispered, coming out from the kitchen and offering him the tray of tea. "I'll make breakfast for the boys in a little while, as they wake I suppose."

He smiled and took the tea then gave Leo who was still asleep a fond look. "I have to admit I have wondered from time to time what it might be like to have daughters." He stood up and moved with her to the kitchen. "I love my sons and the fine men they have become and I am grateful that I was able to raise them but I fear for them as they become adults. They are the only beings of their kind but they will grow to long for female companionship and I am not sure how to help them with this." He settled on a stool and gazed down into his tea. "You treat them as if they are your brothers and I am grateful but may I ask a favor?"

When she nodded he took a deep breath and she realized just how nervous he was to ask whatever it was. "Can you teach my sons how to court a woman?" His ears twitched and she realized he was deeply embarrassed that he couldn't teach them this crucial life lesson himself. "You and Artemis are wise strong and kind women who have lived in the world, my sons already wish they could live more openly in the world without losing what makes them unique. They are Turtles, they might be able to become human through the ooze but they would lose a part of themselves and I am afraid of what might become of them. Will you teach my sons to court a woman as they are?"

He seemed to realize that he was rambling and stopped lifting his cup to sip his tea while he regained his composure. All the while Tracey listened, thoughts of the boys drifted through her head and she glanced over at Leo still sleeping on the couch and sighed. He was right and she knew it. Tracey contemplated all that Master Splinter said and took a sip of her tea before setting it down and nodding. She gave him a sympathetic look and then a smiled.

"We will do what we can and I can understand your concern as a parent. You have done what you can and now they're taking the next step on their journey to adulthood." She said in a whisper, looking down at her reflection in her tea. "We'll take this a day at a time." Looking at the clock on the wall, she began to pull things for breakfast and let the bacon thaw in the sink.

Donnie was the first to wander into the kitchen, he had a technical manual in one hand and mess of electronic parts in the other. He dumped them both on the table and started looking in a drawer muttering distractedly about needing a micro philips screwdriver. Tracey noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses and it was making him lean in closer to the drawer than he might usually. Shaking her head and smirking, Tracey could relate to him since she too was nearsighted and needed her glasses to see three inches in front of her face, anything further than that was incredibly blurry and she had to squint to make things come into focus for her. "Um Donnie, where are your glasses?" She asked, pouring him a cup of tea, placing it in front of him and sitting him down at the table by resting her hands on his shoulders a little forcibly so he would actually sit. "Breakfast now and toys later, I'm going to make eggs, pancakes and bacon for breakfast... perhaps I will add some fruit salad too."

He blinked at her and frowned. "I left them in my room, I just needed the screw driver..." He trailed off when Splinter cleared his throat.  
Inwardly Tracey was giggling and she patted Donnie on the shoulder for encouragement to stick around, but did let him get his glasses and take out his retainer so he could eat properly. She warned him that if he ended up holing himself away with his electronics she might accidentally let a jolt of lightning bounce around in his room and let the sparks fly if he didn't come back out.

"Believe me when I say that my brothers were the exact same way when they were younger. They never ate a proper break... I didn't either for that matter, oh well." Tracey laughed quietly before smiling and starting her preparations to get breakfast started. "They will now if I have anything to say about it."

Once the bacon started sizzling, Leo woke up and was surprisingly alert for someone who had just woken up. Mikey followed his nose to the food and Tracey politely ignored the oversized bunny slippers he came out wearing. Raph was the last out but when he looked around and noticed that Artemis wasn't there he turned around and went to Leo's room. Tracey's first indication that he was up to no good was when he came running out looked terrified and Artemis, in Dragon form, chased him out, hissing evilly. He managed to evade her whipping tail and locked himself inside the garbage truck, Artemis slammed into the side still hissing and Mikey let out a low whistle.

"Dudes... she's like that evil lady on Sleeping Beauty... should we do something?"

Leo shook his head sipping a glass of orange juice. "Nope. He was warned. Let him get himself out of this mess."

Donnie started recording the whole thing. After a minute Artemis stopped hissing and hunkered down to wait, it was full ten minutes before Raph hesitantly left the truck only to be pounced and pinned to the floor with an angry Dragon the size of a large pony on top of him. "Tracey! How do I get her off?!"

Tracey couldn't immediately answer Raph because she was doubled over in fits of laughter, holding onto the rubber spatula she was using to scramble the eggs in a death grip to keep from dropping it. She waved at Mikey and shook her head.

"I have to agree with Leo." She started and flipped the eggs in the sauce pan to let the other side cook. "My sweet Mikey, if there's two things I've learned since hanging out with Artemis it's one: never bother her before 10 and Raph you were warned, and two: never take a toy from a Dragon... So Raph, you'll have to bribe her with bacon or find another way to appease her."

The bacon finished cooking quickly and she set them to drip grease onto a paper towel so she could begin the pancakes. They cooked in the leftover bacon grease and turned a beautiful golden brown when she flipped them. Knowing that the boys were getting hungrier by the second from all the good smells, Tracey handed them plates and they set themselves up to receive the mountains of food. Growing boys needed tons of energy and these boys were no exception to that rule. Everyone dug in and

Tracey had to giggle, seeing that Raph was still struggling to dislodge Artemis from himself.

"I guess you're eating on the floor this morning Raph? Better hurry, the food is going to be eaten." She giggled and returned to the table to pour herself some orange juice.

Raph finally gave up struggling and lay defeated under Artemis's greater bulk. "I'm sorry okay, I won't bug you before 10am again I swear!"

She cocked her head and made a low noise that sounded a lot like a chuckle and got off him padding over to bump Tracey affectionately. Raph sat down with his brothers looking embarrassed and Leo grinned at him. "So what did we learn?"

"That 300 pounds of dragon can out muscle my dumb ass." He grumbled and snagged some food before Mikey finished it off.

"And this is why I tried to tell you that she wasn't a morning person and it would be best to leave her alone my sweet... incredibly violent teddy bear." Tracey answered, giving him a knowing look as a smirk played on the side of her lips. "I haven't kept all eight of my fingers and two opposable thumbs this long by waking her up at the crack of dawn."

With a smile, Tracey looked down at Artemis and ran her nails over the scales on top of her head. She handed her a piece of bacon, making sure she held it in such a way that she wouldn't lose her fingers. Tracey then shook her head and raised an eyebrow at her friend. "You are a slippery creature my sweet, but well played."

Artemis made a soft purring noise and padded back to the bedroom. She came back out dressed and looking smug. "He started it."

"Yes and I'm sure that you gave him a decent head start, but still..."

She let the rest trail off and handed Artemis a plate with all the fixings and some juice. Happily she proceeded to clean up, handing Mikey the few left overs that they actually had from the way that they wolfed down everything she made. Tracey felt that today was going to be a good one and smiled.

"Where will you go set up today Arty?"

"I was hoping Leo would know a good place in Central Park." She looked over at Leo who looked a little surprised then considered it.

"I think I know a spot."

Artemis looked over at Tracey. "Still planning on meditation?"

"Yeah." Tracey replied, stretching upward after drying her hands on a towel. "Hopefully I can get lightning under control with a little meditation and it like fire is a little tricky to handle." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"Leo where are you thinking about taking Artemis? I just want to know in case you need me for any reason."

Leo shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I promise she'll be safe."

"Please humor me, I'm starting to make it my life's work to keep track of Artemis. She was kidnapped at least twice while we were in Ancient Greece and that took at least two year off my life." Tracey said, placing a hand over her heart and looked at her invisible watch on her other wrist.

Leo glanced at Artemis who shook her head and shoveled eggs into her mouth. He sighed. "We'll be setting up by the zoo."

"Thank you." Tracey said with a reassured smile. "And now I'm going to meditate... please keep her safe, she means the world to me."

Artemis grabbed one of her cokes and cracked it, taking a long drink. "Let the caffeine kick in then we can go."

Leo nodded and leaned back in his chair staring off into space. Tracey looked at Leo and tilted her head to the side, studying Leo's facial features and rested her hands on the back of the chair nearest to her. "Leo is something wrong?" She asked quietly. "Believe me when I say I have the absolute confidence in all of your abilities to keep Artemis safe, I just worry about her."

Leo leaned forward and leaned on the counter. "Tracey having confidence in us and trusting us should be one and the same. Being part of a team is trusting the rest of your team to hold up their end."

Tracey grew quiet and nodded. "I understand what you mean... and I'm sorry."

Leo glanced at Artemis who was sipping her coke placidly seeming to ignore the conversation, he looked back at Tracey. "If I decide to take her to an alternate location and not tell you are you going to be able to trust me to keep her safe?"

Looking into Leo's calm blue eyes and studied him closely, quietly contemplating her response before letting out a long and steady sigh. She straightened her posture and crossed her arms over her chest, nodding slightly. "Yes... I just worry, it's in my nature."

He nodded and smiled warmly at her. "Thank you."

"Hai Sensei." Tracey replied, bowing slightly before giving him a salute with two her fingers and then turned on her feet and left the kitchen. 'I know they can keep her safe but I can't help but worry. Our last opponent was a pissed spirit bent on wreaking havoc on not only other innocent people's lives but specifically on Artemis's and mine.'

She was so deep in thought that she didn't realize that her feet had carried her to the same room she had used before for meditation and then blinked. With a shrug of her shoulders, Tracey removed her shoes and socks and stood in the middle of the metal island. Tracey closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly and taking her stance. When she inhaled another breath, she began, shifting her weight between her stances and letting her hands flow side to side, up and down, coming back to her center and sweeping wide again. All the while her breathing was even and she could feel something inside her crackling into life. She wasn't really aware of her surroundings until something metal clattered to the floor behind her. Eyes suddenly flashed golden when they opened and her intake of air was sharp. This brought about a quick reaction from her, the crackling in her body rose and manifested visibly in her hands. The result was an unleashed ball of lightning toward the source of the noise before it could be stopped. Tracey's stance was rigid and aggravated like an Adder ready to strike, nothing like her former stance which was more fluid and stream-like. Her breath was panicked, chest heaving air in and out quickly and heart racing, pounding wildly in her ears.

Mikey was crouched one nunchuck in hand the other on the floor. His eyes were so wide it looked painful and he was doing his absolute best not to move in any way, he was barely breathing, she heard someone running up the hall and realized that the lightning had let loose a crack of thunder in its wake. Raph rushed into the room and stopped staring at the blackened scorch mark on the wall about 6 inches above Mikey's head. "What the hell Tracey, Mikey's annoying but frying him is a bit much don't you think?"

"I... I'm sorry... it was an accident." She stammered, looking from Raph to Mikey and then started to shake. "I didn't know anyone was there and I was startled... Mikey, I'm sorry." Tracey started she shift on her feet and rub her arms insecurely, heart still throbbing painfully.

Mikey stood up shakily and swallowed hard. "No.." His voice squeaked and he cleared his throat. "No problem. I was just trying to pass through so I don't wake Master Splinter…" He shuffled his feet and glanced at the scorch mark. "You could really barbeque if you wanted to… bet your BBQ chicken has a real kick."

"I'm sorry... trying to get this power under control is difficult and unpredictable..." She said quietly, looking down at her bare feet. "I can't... control it... yet." Trying to swallow the lump in her throat, Tracey shook her head and her hair fell into her face. She turned away and sat down on the floor with her back to them. Letting out another breath and trying to calm herself down, Tracey wanted to disappear to any place that wasn't here, where she couldn't hurt anyone. "I'm so sorry."

Raph approached her carefully and gently lifted her up onto her feet then brushed her hair away from her face and nudged her until she stood up straight. "Nothing to be sorry about. You're new at it, everyone messes up when they're new. We're 7 foot, walking talking ninja warriors, we've all accidentally hurt each other."

Mikey sidled up and held out his arm showing off a scar on the forearm. "Leo got me pretty good when we first started weapons training."

Raph motioned to the scar on his lip and shrugged. "Mikey hits harder than you'd think." He tilted her face up so she was looking him in the eyes. "Don't flinch, don't hide and never give up. We're warriors, all of us and you and Artemis too. You just don't have all the training we do."

He gave her a fierce grin and it reminded her of the grin Artemis would give when she won a fight or succeeded at something that scared her, it was oddly reassuring. Mikey patted her back awkwardly and grinned too. "It was pretty intense sister. Like that time I accidentally brushed up against the third rail. If I had hair, it would still be on end." He ran his hands over his head and laughed.

Giving them both a lopsided smile and a thanks, Tracey stood up on her toes to lock an arm around Raph's neck to bring him down to her level, she did the same to Mikey, though he was only a head taller than her. In this manner she gave them both a hug before letting them go."I promise not to stop practicing with my lightning... and if I actually do BBQ some chicken I will make sure I cook it in kitchen and with normal cooking materials." She took a deep breath and let it out.

"Now I need to get back to practicing... with a lot more training I will have this thing under control soon. Until then I think all my meditation sessions should be solo and I should be left to my own devices. I'm sorry again Mikey, I owe you big time... Perhaps we could go flying tonight or I could pick up some pizza and then we'll go flying... what do ya say?"

Mikey's face light up at the thought of pizza. "Pizza sounds great! And flying too! Last time Raph got all the best flight time."

Raph gave him a shove and grinned at Tracey. "Yeah, you practice. I'm going back to bed for a while." The brothers left her to her own devices, warning Donnie to leave her alone for the time being too.


	6. Chapter 6

Artemis followed Leo through the tunnels and sewers her satchel slung over her shoulder carrying her table cloth, sign and cards. Leo was carrying the table and chairs, he glanced over t her from time to time but she seemed content to keep her thoughts to herself. It was such a strange change of pace from his brothers and even Master Splinter who, while he valued his quiet time, tried to teach his sons everything he could in any spare minute leaving little in the way of silences. It was actually making him uneasy and he cleared his throat before speaking. "So… Tracey is really protective." He winced, it sounded so lame.

Artemis looked up at him her dark eyes full of a self possession he wished he could feel. She gave him a small smile. "Tracey has had good reason to be. I got hurt pretty bad in the last place we ended up and then I let myself get possessed by a force so evil I still have nightmares. And we're in foreign territory for reasons we don't understand. I'm used to the unexplainable, I've spent the last 15 years as a practicing witch, the unexplainable it normal for me but Tracey grew up in Logicville, home to Science High and Normality Lane. This is so outside her norm she needs my familiarity with the weirdness to feel stable."

Leo started to ask a question then stopped not wanting to offend her. Artemis chuckled. "It's ok Leo. I've heard it all before. You won't offend me."

"Why did you let yourself get possessed and what do you mean 'practicing witch?" He asked kind of in a rush.

Artemis stopped and he stopped and turned to look at her. She was smaller than he was by a foot or better but at the look in her eyes he felt younger than his 18 years, he didn't really like it but he admitted it in his head. She looked tired, worn around the edges and like she didn't remember how to be happy. "I did it so she wouldn't." She said softly. "Tracey is one of the most giving people I know, she cares about everyone and has such a kind heart. She's been hurt before but she's never seen the things I have, or done the kind of soul damaging work I have and I couldn't stand the thought of her being tainted by that evil piece of shit. And he would have tainted her, he would have done it just because he could and probably just to destroy the light that lives in her soul. I took the damage because that's what I do. I am her shield and her sword, I stand between her and the dark and scream into the night that the sun will rise again." She shook herself and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I don't know why I got so poetic."

He frowned a little but it was beyond him to really understand what she'd been talking about. "So what about the witchcraft thing?" He prompted hoping that would yield more understandable answers, he wasn't stupid by any means but this was the sort of thing Master Splinter would understand more than he could.

Artemis started walking again and he resumed the lead. "I walked away from my parents religion, christianity, when I was a teen and started praying to Gods and Goddesses. Paganism or witchcraft encourages you to take charge of your own destiny and you can learn to use rituals and tools and special items to cast magic and enforce your own will on the world."

He thought about that. Master Splinter was Buddhist and he was himself uninterested in religion by and large. He knew Donnie was an atheist choosing to believe in the power of science and logic and Raph couldn't be bothered either way. He had no idea where Mikey fell as far as religion was concerned, he didn't think his youngest brother had it in him to be self disciplined enough to believe in anything. "Do they answer you?" He asked not even sure why he asked.

"In my world they do sometimes, and in Greece where we were before we came here they were so close I could feel them all the time. Here it's like they don't exist." Artemis replied picking her way over a pile of trash.

"But you still believe in them."

She looked up at him and he thought he saw something of the Dragon she could become for a split second. "Do you stop believing in the Moon when the Sun rises in the morning? Does the sun vanish just because it is night? Just because I can't feel them here doesn't mean they don't exist somewhere."  
It was something Master Splinter might have said and oddly that comforted him. He nodded. "Ok, I can understand that."

She smiled and picked her way around another pile of trash. He looked up through a grate and took the left hand tunnel; she followed him and he couldn't help watching her. "I believe in me and my brothers." He said abruptly and didn't know why he'd said it.

"You should. Believing in yourself is crucial to living in the world. You have to be strong in yourself, in who you are or the world will shake you apart." Artemis kept her eyes forward.

"Sometimes I don't know who I am… or who I want to be." He admitted.

"It would be strange if you didn't." She replied and looked up at him. "Leo, you're almost 18, you are just starting your life and finding a place for yourself in the world. Doubt is part of it. The trick is not letting the doubt define you. You're a good leader and a teacher but you may decide one day you don't want to be either, and that's fine. You might decide one day that that is the core of your identity and that's fine too. The important thing is that you set your own path but don't be afraid to try different roads too."

He nodded and looked up another grate. "Ok, this is us. Be careful."

He helped her up through the grate feeling a little embarrassed when his hands brushed her thighs and butt, she was pretty and he was a guy. He stopped that train of thought at the station and leaned against the tunnel wall thinking about who he was and who he wanted to be while Artemis started selling her fortune telling talents.

When Artemis and Leo returned to the Lair Mikey and Donnie were working on the Garbage Truck and bickering playfully. Master Splinter was sitting in the livingroom reading and Tracey was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Raph but lately Leo had notice his brother getting moody and wandering off by himself for hours at a time. Artemis hung up her bag and went in search of Raph, she wanted to spar with him. When she knocked on his door it swung in on damaged hinges, a leftover of his propensity to slam doors in a temper. What she saw boggled her mind, the sight of Raph cramming a bundle of what looked like knitting under the bed as a ball of variegated blue yarn rolled towards her. She picked it up and walked into the room using her heel to close it behind her. He snatched it away from her but it was too sudden and the knitting came out from under the bed and he groaned picking it up. "What?" He asked annoyed. "Knitting helps me calm down."

Artemis took the knitting and examined it her finger tracing the cable knit scarf. "Its really good." She smiled and handed it back to him. "Tracey crochets, I knit."

"I crochet too sometimes." He admitted and tucked the knitting more carefully under the bed, his room wasn't a total wreck but it was definitely a guys room.

"I spin yarn to destress." She said softly and patted his arm; he cleared his throat embarrassed and rubbed the back of his neck, she made him feel like an idiot whenever she was around, she was pretty, curvey, a fighter and she didn't make him feel like a wimp for knitting.

"So uh… how was the fortune telling?" He took a step back and tried not to blush when he realized he could see down her top because he was that much taller than her. She seemed unaware of her effect on him.

"Good, I made about $300 bucks so better than average." She looked around then back at him. "I came to see if you wanted to spar."

He swallowed and blushed in spite of himself but she ignored the flush on his face, for which he was intensely grateful. "Sure." He waited for her to leave before him and shut his door promising to himself that he would fix the latch soon.

Tracey slowly came out of her meditation to the sound of Raph taunting Artemis and vice versa punctuated by the sound of soft thumps, grunts and the odd yelp or two. She stood in the middle of the floor, breathing heavily as the water around her subtly churned from the vibrations of her feet on the metal floor. Droplets of her sweat joined the water beneath her feet and her body shook from exertion she had put forth with her meditations and trying to get the lightning under control. She hadn't stopped since her little mishap with Mikey that morning and she was damn sure that she wasn't going to let it happen again. Letting out a breath slowly, Tracey relaxed her stance and pushed her damp hair back out of her face. She smirked when she heard another soft thud followed by Raph's distinct grunt when he hit what she assumed to be the floor. Her shirt was soaked. Starting at the base of her neck, a trail ran down between her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. The front of her shirt stuck to her chest and she plucked at the material, shivering a little when it returned to it's place against her flesh.

"Before I eat tonight a shower it definitely in order." She figured, dabbing at her face with a short hand towel that she had brought for her next meditation session.

"Better go see who's kicking whose ass now." Tracey walked quietly to the training room that she and Leo had been practicing Boken in and stood off to the side as to not draw attention to herself and to silently observe the proceedings.

She watched Artemis and Raph circling each other, Artemis was in a loose low crouch that kept her center of gravity low. Raph was in a different stance and both were grinning fiercely panting for breath. Tracey could see a dark bruise forming on Artemis's shoulder and down her bicep but she didn't seem to care and Raph had the remains of a nose bleed. Mikey, Donnie, Leo and Master Splinter were watching the match and Donnie had a scoreboard up on the wall. They were tied at 9 points each. Whoever got to ten first would win and both were competitive enough to want the win. Raph got impatient first and tried a strike, Artemis spun inside his reach and tried for a leg sweep but he twisted to the side pulling his leg out of her sweep and tried for a backhand strike. Artemis ducked and came up with her fist trying for an armpit nerve strike but Raph saw it coming and rolled away popping up and swinging into a roundhouse that would have sent her to the mat if she hadn't leaped over it like a child jumping rope. Raph had to finish the circle and it left his back open and Artemis leaped on his back jamming her fists at angles down into the junction where his neck and shoulders met. He grunted in pain from the nerve strike and her weight dragged him down to the mat. Splinter called the match and Artemis slid down to the floor panting for breath.

'That's my girl.' Tracey thought as she smiled and nodded. "Quick, precise, and deadly as always my sweet." Tracey was always impressed with Artemis's martial art skills. She loved watching her move and wished that she could have the same skills, but knew that she would need years of training and discipline to be as good as she was. Looking at Raph she stepped forward and held out a hand to help him up and patted his muscular arm and shook her head. "Sometimes my dear it's better to be short in stature than have all the muscles. Better luck next time."

Artemis gave a breathless chuckle. "Oh he almost had me hon. He's fast and his reach is way longer than mine, I got lucky just now." She flopped back on her back and tried to catch her breath.

Raph grinned and rotated his shoulder laughing, he reached down and helped her up. "Girl you beat me, luck or not you beat me."

"You have to admit Artemis, you do have a lot of luck." Tracey replied, giving her a high-five. "Despite the things that have happened in the past, you've acquired a lot of luck since then... well, it doesn't look like that at the moment because we're being forced to travel in mysterious ways but hey, we have to take the good with the bad and keep moving forward." She gave them all a nod and a smile, happy with her statement.

Artemis nodded and pushed her hair away from her sweaty face. Master Splinter moved up beside them and looked them both over. "You both showed tremendous skill. But it i almost time for dinner. Perhaps a shower first though."

Tracey bowed respectfully to Master Splinter and then nodded. "Yeah we definitely need a shower, but Mikey and I have to excuse ourselves. We have a date tonight and we will be back in a few hours, before you boys have to go on patrol tonight to be sure." Tracey said, giving Mikey a wink and a smirk. "I promised him dinner and a ride."

Artemis blinked and glanced at Mikey who looked a little embarrassed, Leo, Donnie and Raph stared at him and he flushed. "A date?" Raph asked curiously.  
Artemis smiled and headed towards the showers. "I'll cook dinner tonight after I shower."

"Don't take up all the hot water, I'd like to fly with fresh feathers tonight if you don't mind." She said with a knowing look on her face. "I'm going to arrange to pick up pizza from Steven and then grab a shower so by the time we're ready to leave all we have to do is pick it up, eat and fly." Before she turned on her feet to leave the training room, Tracey looked to Master Splinter and nodded slightly to show that she was considering the conversation they had talked about over breakfast that morning. She also owed Mikey as an apology for what happened earlier too, wanting to make sure that everything was alright between them.

About 15 minutes later Artemis shuted to Tracey that the shower was free. Donnie had gone back to his computers, Leo was practicing with the Katana and Raph was working the heavy bag. Mikey had disappeared into his room and they could all hear him shuffling through the general mess he lived in looking for something. When Artemis emerged into the kitchen she made a beeline for the fridge and started pulling out ingredients. She set a pot of water on to boil and rinsed rice quickly before setting it to cook. Master Splinter watched her work before speaking up. "Artemis, why did you learn so many forms of martial arts?"  
She paused in the act of pulling out a carton of eggs then kept working. "My father was physically abusive, I started learning Karate to get strong enough to keep him from hitting me. I kept learning new forms after as a sort of therapy. So I wouldn't be a victim again."

He gave her a sad look but nodded. "I see. You have skill and control."

She smiled and stirred the rice. "Thank you."

While she cooked she started humming and then started singing softly. When Tracey got out of the shower she heard Artemis singing and oddly the sound of a masculine voice singing. Shutting off the water, Tracey let herself drip dry for a moment before looking around and listening for a minute longer then grabbed a towel so she could dry the water from her arms. She moved onto the rest of her body and then wrapped the towel around her, tucking in the corner at her chest. The satchel she had brought with her held her fresh clothes and plastic bag for her phone and clothes that she would wrap up to protect them when she and Mikey flew that night. Putting on the denim hip huggers and the tank top she had arrived wearing to this world, she laced up her boots and hung up her towel to dry. Tracey shouldered the satchel and ran a brush through her hair quickly before leaving the bathroom and used her phone to check the time as she went to the kitchen. "Hey Artemis, I'm heading out now... have you seen Mikey?"

"He's in his room. I think he's looking for something." Artemis replied chopping veggies.

"Okay, I'll go check on him and then we'll be off... I wonder what he's looking for. Oh well, I'll have my cell phone and I'll call if something comes up. Master Splinter." She mused and nodded before shrugging her shoulders and double checked her satchel to make sure that her wallet was there so she could pay for the pizza. "Well see ya later."

Giving Artemis a wave from over her shoulder, Tracey walked to Mikey's room and knocked on the door, waiting outside until given permission to enter. "Mikey are you ready to go? Pizza should be ready in about ten minutes."

Mikey opened the door in a rush and Tracey and Artemis both saw why he'd been banging around. He was dressed in the worst suit imaginable, a dark blue polyester thing that fit oddly over his shell with a bright orange tie. Artemis carefully set the knife she'd been using down on the counter and came over. "Mikey… where did you find my Grandfathers Seersucker suit from the 70's?"

He flushed and fidgeted as Raph started laughing. Artemis shot him a look and he shut up. Artemis turned Mikey around so she could see the back. "Mikey, I can make this fit you, and fit well but it'll take a few days. Why don't you find me your cleanest button up shirt without a logo on it and a black or blue tie." She smiled at him gently. "Give me the suit coat when you come out, leave the pants on."

He went back into his room and Artemis exchanged a look with Tracey as if to say 'He tried at least.'

When he came back out he was wearing the shirt open over his shell. Artemis turned him around and nodded. "Do you mind if I cut this along the back so it fits you?"

"Sure." He said a little uncertainly.

Artemis smiled and went to the kitchen grabbing a pair of scissors and a roll of double sided tape. She cut the back of the shirt so that the collar looped over the back of his neck and the back tied like an apron under his shell. She used the tape to secure the edges in a false hem and then moved to the front and buttoned him up smiling. She took the tie and tied it quickly then told him to tuck the remainder of the shirt into the pants and smiled when she stepped back. "There you are, I knew there was a sophisticated handsome young man in there."

He smiled a little hesitantly and ducked his head. "Thanks…"

Artemis looked at Tracey and smiled. "Have fun on your date guys."

"We will, don't wait up for us." Tracey replied and smiled as she looped her arm with Mikey's. "You make these clothes look good Mikey, but you didn't have to dress up for our date. I would enjoy your company no matter what you wore, you have the same personality and humor I do and that makes for an exciting time." Tracey gave him a warm smile and patted his arm fondly as they walked to the front of the lair. As they passed by Master Splinter's room she gave him a wave and they vanished around the corner.

"Alright, Mikey my sweet, you know where to go from here so please lead the way."

Mikey led the way and in about ten minutes they were above ground collecting their pizza and climbing up a fire escape ladder to a rooftop he insisted had the best view of the skyline at night. He'd brought a few bottles of orange crush soda with him and he handed her one."I thought that's what you're supposed to do on a date ya know? Dress nice, try to act a little less like a total dork…" He rubbed the back of his head and flushed. "I kinda suck at this, the only girl who ever really noticed me was April but she's dating Casey and I'm a walking talking monster."

The can of orange crush soda gave an angry hiss when Tracey opened it and it fizzed up, bubbling over the side. She held the can aloft until it stopped and then she took a quick sip while she listened to him, nodding. Slowly Tracey put her soda down beside her and redirected her attention to Mikey. She swallowed and hesitated before reaching over and resting her hand over his own and gave it a squeeze, making him look at her.

"Then perhaps I am a monster too." Tracey said with a sigh and taking another sip of her drink, looking out at the beautiful starry sky.

When she looked back at Mikey she saw that his expression was one of confusion. Tracey took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. Looking at him she nodded to indicate she meant what she said. "Firstly you're not a monster Mikey, you or your brothers, so don't you dare think it. Master Splinter was right when he said' that normal people fear what they don't understand', but that's only half the story. Even us 'normal looking' people are considered abnormal in some way if we don't conform in the same ways with all the other human beings... Take Artemis for example, she is a practitioner of the magical arts and prays to all manner of Gods and sees many things that are still invisible to me. Do you think she's considered a normal person by other people? Not likely."

Tracey opened the pizza box and offered the open box to Mikey so he would eat before the pizza got cold. "Though this is the first time we've actually met, you remind me of me. Well when people go on dates they do dress up and try to look their best but then most put on a mask and say what they think will get a positive reaction from their date. Then the evening may go well, the next few dates may end on a positive note, and then they'll try to make hasty advances and things fall apart from there... I prefer my dates, like you, to be themselves and show their true sides."

He took a slice of pizza and looked out at the skyline. "But… what if this is part of me?" He ask and shrugged. "I like to goof off and stuff but that's not all I am ya know? Like I want to be more than just the goofy little brother… I want to do stuff… my brothers don't really take me seriously but I'm good at other stuff." He frowned down at his pizza and then took a bite.

Tracey nodded and scooted a little closer to him, leaning in a little so he had her undivided attention. "There's nothing wrong with being a goof... I can relate to you there because I'm constantly making Artemis laugh and we always have a good time." She said, trying to encourage him with another kind smile. "What else do you like to do?"

He finished a slice of pizza and reached for another and thought about it. "I like mixing music… like DJing and stuff." He hesitated and blurted out the next sentence a if he had to say it fast or he'd chicken out. "But I really really like writing screenplays and I really want to have one be good enough to be on TV." His face went bright with a blush and he stuffed the whole slice of pizza in his mouth looking down at his hands.

"That would be brilliant!" Tracey answered, clapping with excitement and nudging him gently with her own and nodding. "If you have any that you've written I would love to read them. I like to write stories myself and perhaps Artemis may know what we could do next or if we can get a hold of April then she could probably help too."She sat up straighter and took another sip of her soda and let out a happy sigh, her legs dangling over the roof's edge.

"I love listening to some techno, instrumentals and a few others. If we have time tomorrow would you work your magic on some turntables for me? Hm, perhaps a party... yeah! We could throw a party and we could invite April and Casey."

He stared at her his mouth half open, he looked stunned. "No one ever wants me to mix…" He mumbled finally.

Tracey's mouth fell open a little and she gaped at him. "Well then they don't know what they're missing, it's your passion and you should act upon it. Your choice in music and what you do with it is a type of self-expression and you shouldn't have to hide that." She replied, placing her hand on his arm. "My writing is a passion of mine, but I haven't published anything because I write them for the fun of it, it helps get my thoughts down on paper... it also relaxes me."  
She finished off her third slice of pizza and then downed a large gulp of soda, letting out a satisfied 'ah' when she swallowed. "What else relaxes you Mikey?"

He gulped down his drink and belched. "'Scuse me." He mumbled and shrugged. "Video games, skateboarding, basketball… normal guy stuff. What about you? When you're not getting dumped in different universes I mean."

"Nice one, but I can do better." She laughed and downed a very large gulp of her soda and waited for a moment before she felt a gurgle rise in her throat and released it. "Was that me?" She put on an innocent face before bursting into laughter and pushed some hair out of her face.

"Hm... mostly writing, but when I'm not working for my main job, Artemis and I run a crafting business. Originally we were at a convention where we were selling our crafts when all this happened. If I have any time to myself or a free day where I don't have any responsibilities, I would like to ride horses... so far it's been the second best thing to feeling free." She answered tucking her hair behind her ears when a gust of wind tossed it up and over her shoulder again. "Since we've traveled here the first would be my newly acquired ability to fly."

"What's it like to fly? Like with your own wings?" He asked curiously.

He grabbed the second to last slice of pizza and bit into it watching her.

"I've always imagined flying would be like jumping horses. When my horse would prepare to jump I could always feel my heart rising in my chest and the adrenaline rush through my veins. In the middle of the jump I could feel the wind rushing through my hair and over my skin and it felt so right... a sense of freedom was strong when I rode horses." She answered, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the stars again. "Since we've been here and have the ability to transform into winged creatures, the comparison has been a very close to jumping with horses. Do you have a sensitive stomach?" Tracey grabbed at her satchel behind her and started to pull out the plastic bag she put in there before she left.

He shook his head and grinned. "Nah. Raph used to swing me around by the ankles to see if he could make me puke. Never worked."

"Oh that's good, I'm don't have a sensitive stomach either. I'm about to show you what it's like to fly." Tracey replied, standing up and turning her back to Mikey. "If you wouldn't mind putting our trash in the garbage bag that's in my satchel I'll get changed and we can go for a flight."

She kept her back to Mikey while she changed out of her clothes and put them in the plastic bag she had had in her hand. Stepping out the the edge of the roof, the wind picked up her hair and flung it back behind her. Arms out to her side, Tracey took a final look at the stars and let herself plummet forward, free falling for a few seconds before she let out a triumphant cry before transforming and soaring with mighty wing beats that carried her upward again. Thunder rumbled through the clouds and she circled the building before alighting onto the roof again. She gazed at Mikey through orbs of golden hue and she bent her head forward, nudging his shoulder tenderly. Mikey grinned and reached out to touch her feathers. "They're so soft." He said softly and laughed.

With her help he got astride her, he had her satchel slung around his back and he checked one last time to make sure it was secure before they took off. Tracey had shuffled herself to the edge of the building and ruffled her feathers until Mikey was surrounded by their plushness and nearly hidden from view. Stretching out her wings, twice the span of her own body size, she crouched down on her talons and bunched her legs. At the same time she pushed off from the roof ledge, Tracey swept her wings downward for the lift she needed to launch them both into the air. The sudden rush of air flitted through her feathers and soon enough they were gliding over the clouds, the soft rumbling of thunder trailing behind them. Tracey beat her wings at the appropriate intervals, having caught onto the different times, temperatures, and wind patterns that required her to do so in order to keep herself up. 'This is the freedom I have longed for... and it is something that I will remember forever.' Tracey thought to herself as they flew.

A low rumble in her chest soon rose to her throat and escaped from her beak. A series of chirps and squeaks followed her cry and she looked back over her shoulder to see how Mikey was doing. Much to her delight his eyes were wide and a smile on his face lifted her spirits. She liked to see him happy and this was the real Mikey, the one she hoped his brothers would come to know before too much longer. Together they traveled through the night for a few hours, having the best view of the moon and sky. After a time Tracey angled them back towards the lair, sweeping her head from side to side and scanning the ground and buildings with her golden eyes for any threats to them. She wanted to make sure that they were safe and as it turns out all was well and she hobbled to the street before stepping into the shadows and chirping for her satchel. Upon receiving it, Tracey transformed with a few grunts and dressed quickly.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening Mikey." She said softly, standing up on her toes and kissing his cool cheek. "Remember... things aren't always greener on the other side. Even normal people are afraid of other normal people. You shouldn't ever want to be anyone other than who you are, so long as you are true to yourself, no one else's opinion matters."

When they got back to the Lair Artemis and Master Splinter were playing a game of cards. It was quiet in the lair, the other three brothers having gone out on patrol. Master Splinter informed Mikey that since he'd been on a date he had the night off. When Mikey headed to his room Master Splinter gave Tracey a grateful smile and laid down a handful of cards which made Artemis groan. "That's it, the cards hate me tonight. I'm headed to bed." She gave Tracey a hug on her way by.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Artemis had Donnie accompany her topside. They hadn't been gone more than an hour when they came rushing back to the Lair. Artemis was shouting for someone to come help her as she half carried half dragged a young man with shaggy brown hair wearing her shirt wrapped around his waist. Tracey realized with a start that it was Donnie in human form and naked except for Artemis's shirt wrapped around his hips. She was wearing a dark blue bra and seemed totally unconcerned by her state of undress as she laid the unconscious form on the couch, her nose was bleeding and a dark bruise was forming along her ribs but she ignored them both while she hurried to explain. "I was just starting to do some readings when the Foot Clan attacked. Jesus they just attacked out in the open. If Donnie hadn't come up they'd have taken me. There were just too many of them. They took a shot at me with this," She held up a syringe dart with a few drops of purple ooze in the cylinder. "But he took the hit and then collapsed and started twitching. Then they just… left. Like that's what they planned all along. I got him back down the grate and he started convulsing. Then he changed…" She unslung her satchel and tossed it aside the contents half spilling out onto the floor her Tarot cards falling out of their wrapping.

She started checking him over while Raph, Leo and Mikey all crowded around them. Master Splinter banged his cane on the ground. "Move back." He ordered and they reluctantly moved.

"Someone, I need a flashlight." Artemis said calmly as she started checking his vital her finger pressed against the side of his neck taking his pulse. "And someone grab a blanket. He's going into shock."

Having hurried into the living room at the start of hearing Artemis shouting for help, dashed around the living room and grabbed at the pillows to stuff under Donnie's pale legs and then she ran to Leo's room and pulled off a blanket from the bed. She grabbed a flashlight on the way out and rushed passed the boys, handing Artemis the flashlight and tucking the blanket around him quickly. Tracey knew how the boys were feeling at that moment and nodded at her own thoughts. "Mikey I need you to get a bowl of hot water and rags together. I'm going to get a container to put the syringe in so we don't accidently get oozed."

She started, looking from one to the other. "Leo and Raph, we need to make bring all of Donnie's equipment here, he's going to want it when he wakes up. Please go get it and be careful, watch each other's backs. It must have been a blitz attack that took Donnie by surprise and that's how they got close enough to you both... Arty where were you setting up today and what direction were the Foot Clan were heading?"

Tracey had a theory that if she could figure out what direction the Foot Clan had gone that she might be able to track their movements. She had to find them and she knew she'd have to do it soon. If her theories were correct and the Foot Clan was doing what she figured they were then they could be in trouble. At the moment she thought that the Foot Clan was making the attempt to turn all the turtles into humans so they have a better advantage for whatever came next... that's what she was worried about. What comes next if the rest of the turtles were turned scared her.

"Remember to be careful." She said, giving Leo and Raph a worried look. "We have everything under control here."

Artemis didn't look up from examining Donnie. "We were setting up by the 14th Street Subway Entrance. They disappeared into the Subway Tunnels. I managed to stash all of Donnies equipment in the storm grate before I brought him back." She was shining the light into one eye that she held open and her face was grim.

"He's got minimal pupil response, he is out cold." She muttered and Leo had to shove Raph to get him moving out of the Lair to get Donnies equipment.

Artemis was examining the puncture site and when she squeezed it gently foul smelling gunk oozed out, she grimaced and wiped it away with a wet rag. "Mikey, I need you to call Casey or April, I need antibiotics and mens clothes, size large. Tell whoever you call that they can get fish antibiotics at any petstore but it has to be 250mg per capsule."

Mikey made the call, he couldn't get April but he got ahold of Casey who protested but eventually gave in. Master Splinter knelt beside Artemis looking worried. "Why does he need antibiotics?"

Artemis squeezed the wound site again and collected the pus onto a rag. "Smell this." She said holding it out to him.

He did and made a face, Artemis nodded. "Infections are basically a part of the body decaying and the white blood cells trying to fight the rot. You can smell it, back in the day that's how doctors used to diagnose an infection, by smelling the wound."

"But why a pet store?" He asked trying not to sound offended on his sons behalf.

Artemis gave him a slight smile and rested a hand on his bony arm. "It's not because they're turtles Splinter, the FDA ruled a while ago that any product that can be consumed by an animal must also be consumable by people, to prevent accidental poisonings and such. Fish antibiotics are the exact same thing given to humans in the same doses but you don't need a prescription or Doctor's appointment to get them. We can't take Donnie to a hospital but we can't leave him untreated either." She watched as Donnie started to shiver and leaned forward to press her forehead on his. "He's started a fever, a high one too."

Artemis looked over at Tracey. "I don't want to try cooling the fever right yet, can you put some wet cloths in baggies and throw them in the freezer, we'll need them later but right now I want the fever to do what they're meant to."

"What are they meant to do?" Mikey asked looking worried.

"A fever is the body's way of burning out the infection. If it gets too high it can cook the patient's brain but back before modern medicine Doctors used to let a fever burn to help fight whatever illness was plaguing the patient, letting the body fight for itself." Artemis replied smoothing Donnies new hair back.

"But we have modern medicine now." Mikey protested.

"I don't know for certain how much of Donnies body is still a turtle." Artemis replied looking up at him calmly. "He could still have a lot of the internal functions of a turtle in which case cooling him too fast could kill him, or he could be totally human in which case cooling him too fast without the antibiotics could leave him with brain damage or worse. I was an EMT, it's not the same as being a doctor. I know the risks but the best I can do is provide life saving measures with best guesses and all the weird esoteric shit I've learned over the years."

"Trust her Master Splinter, Artemis knows what she's doing." Tracey said, getting up after looking at Donnie in concern she turned to Mikey, resting her hand on his arm.

"Mikey, my sweet, we're going to do all we can to make him well. But I need your help... come on."

She tenderly pulled him away from the living room and toward the kitchen. Once there she grabbed several plastic bags and began filling them half way with water, leaving room for the water to expand when she put them in the freezer. She fished around the kitchen for more rags and Mikey started to assist, heating up water and handing her a plastic container to Tracey, who in turn, took it and carefully placed it inside and snapped the lid on tight. A sudden thought occurred to her and she popped into her shared bedroom and grabbed a spare shirt for Arty, coming out to hand it to her before she looked back at Mikey. She noticed him glancing back at the couch to Artemis and Master Splinter from time to time. Gently placing her hand on his cheek, Tracey had him look into her eyes and take a deep breath.

"I want you the remember to breath and believe me when I say that the reason that Artemis and I are here is to help you. It will take some time to figure out what the Foot Clan are up to, but we're here to help." She said, embracing him and holding onto him tightly. "Now let's refocus and meet up with Casey."

Raph and Leo returned with Donnies stuff just as Mikey and Tracey were headed out to meet Casey. Lleo insisted on heading out with them and about twenty minutes later they were opening a storm grate and helping Casey down. He stopped and stared at Tracey. "Who's this?" He asked looking wary.

"This is Tracey, she's a friend." Leo replied as Tracey moved to take the bag from Casey.

"So why did you need me to get aquarium medicines?" Casey asked curiously.

"Donnies hurt, really bad." Mikey replied his face pinched and Casey looked shocked.

"Well let's go then." He replied handing the back to Tracey.

"Whatever you say Green Arrow." She muttered, eyes flashing to a goldish color when she looked him in the face. She had a slight smirk playing on her lips, but she didn't care to elaborate on her statement while they jogged back to the Lair, Casey in tow looking slightly confused at what he thought he saw. His mouth worked but no sound came out and he was even more confused when their group got back to the living room.

"We have them Arty! I'm going to crush one up and mix it with some water so Donny will drink it with a little help. How long do you think it will take for the medicine to take effect and is there anything else we can do to help him?"

"Don't mix them with water, here, let me have them." Artemis got up and ignored Casey who stared at her.

She took the bag and pulled the antibiotics out. "Oh good, it's the powdered stuff, no need to grind it up." She took it into the kitchen while Raph, Mikey and Leo gathered behind the couch. Casey stared at Donnie in human form on the couch then looked back into the kitchen. "What the hell? Who is she? What happened to Donnie?"

"She is Artemis." Artemis replied mixing the antibiotics with honey in a bowl. "And Donnie got shot with Purple ooze. I am trying to help him, now do me a favor and take the other three somewhere while I work." She crouched down beside Donnie with a thermometer and stuck it under his tongue.

"You got it, holler if you need anything." Tracey said, brushing her fingers over each boy's arms to get them to focus on something else. "You heard her boys, there's nothing more we can do for Donny for now. We'll take turns watching over him throughout the day because I know you guys won't negotiate any other way... Artemis and Master Splinter are taking the first shift. The rest of us should try and change mindsets from the situation here to what our next moves will be."

Tracey took a deep breath and gently nudged them to move. She patted Leo's shoulder, knowing that he was probably feeling the most torn up, almost as if he was personally blaming himself. Letting out a breath, she passed him and went to the training room. A slow, burning sensation had been growing inside her and had started when she noticed Mikey's worry and now with the rest of them. She didn't like to see them hurting, it was bad enough that she had to endure Artemis getting kidnapped and beaten, she sure as hell didn't like it happening to her newest friends. Tracey hesitated before taking the final step into the training room, but when she did a low breath escaped from her and she felt the crackle of energy run through her to her hands.

'Why is this happening to them?! Who's behind it? What is their endgame!?' Tracey asked herself, but with each question her temper flared and the energy crackled fiercer. "Stay in control, Tracey... breath and stay in control." Her words were quiet, as if she was trying to use them to regain control.

"Look I don't know what is going on, or who you guys even are but can someone please explain? I thought the Purple Ooze was gone!" Casey had followed Tracey dodging Mikey who tried to stop him.

Without knowing what he was really stepping into, Casey followed Tracey into the training room right as she let the sizzling energy accumulate in her hands. Casey nearly pissed himself and made a noise of objection and Tracey spun on him, both of her hands flicking outward so suddenly that there wouldn't have been a way for him to avoid being shocked even if he tried. She grunted and withdrew her hands quickly, creating a yo-yo effect and whipping the lightning balls back before they could even scorch his shirt. The energy she had used stuck around as she twirled the balls on strings of lightning that she clasped in her hands.

"God what the hell are you?!" He shouted at her, nearly falling back and clutching at his chest as if to make sure he was still in one piece.

Tracey gave him a look and raised an eyebrow at him. "I am pretty close to being human... just like you, but with a few differences." She answered, shaking her head at him. "You're lucky; the last person who accidentally stood behind me before I had something that even remotely resembled control got a ball of lightning thrown at them and a few years scared off their life... didn't you Mikey?"

Tracey noticed him at the door, but hadn't said anything. She brought her hands together and allowed the lightning to join together to form a single ball of energy. Slowly she closed her hands until the energy vanished and smirked at her success. "Just goes to show what hard meditation and practice can do." She said absently.

Mikey walked in slowly and helped Casey up. "She's gotten better at it." He agreed.

Leo walked in and leaned against the wall crossing his arms. "Artemis and Tracey are from a different world than ours, they have abilities and can both transform, Tracey into a Thunderbird and Artemis into a Dragon. The Foot Clan has gotten their hands on more Purple Ooze and they apparently have decided to see if they can turn us into humans so they can finally beat us." His face was tight and worry filled his eyes.

Casey opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water for a minute then closed it and ran his hands through his hair. "I'm friends with giant talking turtles who are super ninjas… why should this be any stranger?"

"My thoughts exactly though I stopped asking them a long time ago." Tracey replied with a nod, crossing her own arms and shifting her weight to the left. "I have a theory that follows your statement Leo. If the Foot Clan are trying to turn you guys into humans then you would be more vulnerable to attacks, especially if they decide to play geneticists or God and create more animal hybrids like Bebop and Rocksteady." She rested her chin on a fist while her arms were still crossed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you have any other ideas what the Foot Clan could possibly be doing? I'll have to do some research and with that ghost file that I plucked from TCRI I might be able to find something there. But I hope there's something in there that will help me find Baxter Stockman too... I think he may have something to do with this. Shredder is gone, so I know it's not him so someone else is pulling the strings and Stockman is the only one that comes to mind who has the know how to manipulate the purple ooze."

Leo shook his head. "I have no idea what they could be up to but his Lieutenant, Kurai is probably running the show these days until they find Shredder again. And before you ask, no I have no clue where she is, she keeps a low profile, we haven't been able to get anywhere near her."

A sarcastic laugh escaped from Tracey's lips as she uncrossed her arms and stretched them over her head. It was an odd laugh and she knew it, but she smiled. "Oh they won't find Shredder so they're just wasting their time looking for him... He's long gone and he's not coming back." She said. "While they're wasting their time, that will give us a slight advantage. I can at least try to find Stockman and perhaps my ghost program in the TCRI computers has copied another update from them... I'll check that out later."

Leo stood up and gave her a sharp look, Raph and Mikey gave her a similar look. "How do you know that?" Leo asked. "We never found out where Shredder vanished to, just that he disappeared when the TechnoDrone appeared. We figured he went into hiding somewhere overseas. He's real big on self preservation and an alien invasion would put him at risk."

Tracey studied each of their faces and chewed on her tongue for a moment before pushing her hair out of her face and letting out a breath. She nodded and figured that if she didn't tell them then Artemis would have to later.

"With all the chaos going on with the invasion, Shredder was transported to the TechnoDrone, but only after he had Kurai send Baxter Stockman to their facility in Tokyo. After that Shredder went to talk to Commander Krang, but as with all evil beings, the Krang betrayed Shredder and turned him into a human popsicle. He was tucked away in a capsule with several other beings, I couldn't tell you what they looked like because there was a thick frost over the glass so he's not getting out." She answered, resting hands on her hips. "Unless the Krang come back, then Shredder will stay gone."

The guys all exchanged glances and Casey shook his head. "I don't even want to know how you know that. "This is freaking me out enough."  
They paused when they heard thumping in the other room and Artemis yelled for Tracey. When Tracey ran out she saw Donnie thrashing violently on the couch. Artemis had fresh blood flowing out of her nose and she was trying to tilt him onto his side. "He's having a seizure! Help me get him on the floor."

Artemis was watching Donnie intently. "We just have to wait out the seizure. It's probably a combo platter, high fever and mutagenic triggers." She took the rag Raph offered and wiped her nose trying to staunch the flow without taking her eyes off Donnie. She lowered him to his back when the convulsions stopped. She peeled back an eyelid and checked his pupils then dropped both the rag and the flashlight swearing violently. "Shit shit shit…" She tilted his head back and breathed into his mouth before she started chest compressions. "Come on Donnie." She was putting her whole body into the compressions.

She stopped and breathed into his throat again as the brothers crowded forward and she resumed compressions. "Back up!" She snarled huffing for breath. "Casey! I need you to spell me. I can't keep this pace."

Casey's training kicked in and he dropped down and took over compressions while Artemis breathed into his mouth then looked up at Tracey. "Tracey get them out of here!"

Tracey looked at the situation and shook her head a little and pushed against Leo's chest to get him moving out of the room. She gave Mikey's arm a pull to bring him out of his trance-like state, but Raph was a little bit more stubborn and he and Leo showed equal worry to Mikey's. "Get going or else..." She started, applying pressure to Raph's arm, despite him being so much larger than she was around. "We're not doing any good here."

A sudden thought occurred to her. Tracey turned to Artemis and then moved closer. "Has Donnie's heart stopped?" She whispered quietly, praying that she was wrong. "If his heart has stopped perhaps I can give him some juice to restart it."

Artemis shook her head and took over from Casey so he could take a break. "Defibrillation doesn't work that way. It looks… flashy on tv… but Defib refers to… the heart rate… not the equipment…"

Donnie suddenly jerked and Artemis stopped pumping and rested her head on his chest. "Oh thank the Gods." She checked his eyes again breathing hard. "Casey help me get him up on the couch."

Casey helped move Donnie back onto the couch then helped Artemis sit on the floor. "Easy… Just sit and breath for a minute."  
Raph pushed forward his eyes blazing. "You can't tell us to fuckin' leave! He's our brother!"

Leo tried to pull him away and Mikey reached for his arm but Raph pushed them away. "He needs us!"

Casey stood up and moved in front of Raph. "Right now he needs Artemis. She's trained to save lives, let her do her job."

Raph swallowed convulsively and stepped back hands in fists before he spun on his heel and stomped away. Mikey looked close to tears and he followed his brother. "Raph! Raph wait!"

Tracey stood up and let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. She rested her hand on Mikey's shoulder before he got too far from them and shook her head.

"Mikey, let him go, he needs to vent and I don't want you to end up being his punching bag. Raph will blow off some steam and then come back when he's ready." She said, hoping that she could give him some comfort with her words. "Leo, Mikey, please take a breather and I'll come get you if and when anything changes."

She walked to the kitchen and got a bowl to fill with cool water before coming back over to Artemis, Casey and Donnie. Kneeling, Tracey took a rag and dampened it so she could sponge his forehead until the sweat was only faint beads on his skin. She was concerned for Donnie's well-being and she knew how hard it was for the boys to see their brother in so much pain. Tracey had experienced it when Artemis was kidnapped and beaten. She herself felt helpless, but she trusted Hercules and Iolaus to help her get Artemis back and so here the boys needed to understand that she and Artie were going to do all they could to get Donny back on his feet. "Can you trust us to do what we can to help Donnie?"

Mikey swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I can do that." He all but ran to his room and closed the door. Leo watched him go and then looked over at Artemis who was checking Donnie, blood was smeared under her nose and on her chin but she ignored it. "I trust you both but I can't walk away. I'll stay out of the way, I won't go near the couch but I can't leave until I know." He looked at her with scared blue eyes and she could see he was struggling to stay strong, to be the leader.

Tracey stopped her work and gazed into his eyes and seeing such strength that only a great leader could possess. "Thank you Leo. You are a brave, noble leader and you inspire dedication and skill in your brothers... at this very moment though Mikey needs you, go talk to him. In about an hour go to Raph and the three of you need to talk to each other. Show them your strength and it will comfort them too."

He took a deep breath and looked back over at Artemis who was putting cold compresses on Donnies neck, armpits and legs to try and bring the fever down. "Ok... ok…" He walked to Mikeys door and knocked before walking in and shutting the door.

Casey walked over to Tracey his face drawn with worry. "Artemis told me to come get more ice packs. And she's asked for a list of medical stuff." He handed her the hastily scribbled list and a wad of ones and fives. "I'm supposed to go with you and keep you safe since the boys aren't up to it." He glanced back at the couch and Tracey saw that Master Splinter had pulled up a low stool and was sitting at one end of the couch stroking Donnies hair. "Is he gonna be ok?"

"I certainly hope so. I know Artemis is doing all she can and Donnie is a strong guy so I know he'll push through this, but it will be touch and go for a few hours." Tracey replied, taking the list from Casey and quickly looking over it. "There's a Walgreens not far from here, we'll hit that up for the items we need and hurry back. Let me grab my bag."

Stuffing the list in the pocket of her BDUs, Tracey and Casey went to Leo's room and Tracey grabbed her bag. She made sure that the plastic bags, her wallet and phone were inside before shouldering the satchel diagonally over her chest and closed the door behind them. As they passed by the living room again to get to the storm doors,

Tracey patted Artemis's shoulder for reassurance and bowed respectfully to Master Splinter. She motioned to Casey to follow her and let the way through the tunnels. It took a little while to navigate through them since she had only been this way once before, but Tracey soon had them on the right path and soon they came to the right manhole cover that led out to an alley.

"Let me check it out first." He insisted, already starting to climb the ladder.

"As you wish." Tracey smirked, giving her head a little shake at his sense of nobility. "I hope you don't mind heights because if things go sour we may be flying home or avoiding hiding out for a while."

Casey nodded and then peeked through the holes of the manhole cover to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary lurking in the alley. With nothing out of place, he pushed the cover off and climbed out, holding a hand out for Tracey to take. She neared the top and took his hand, scanning around them and peering into nooks and crannies for signs of life.

"Okay, let's go. Donnie needs these items quickly and we don't have time to waste."

She allowed Casey a moment to replace the manhole cover and walked to the edge of the alley, looking around the corner until she could see up and down the street. Having become very paranoid that there would be attempted kidnapping for both herself and Artemis wherever they were sent to, Tracey didn't want to take any chances today, especially not today.

There was no lurking band of Foot Clan soldiers waiting to ambush them and they hurried into the Walgreens. It didn't take long to get everything on the list and oddly Artemis had included a few comfort items on the list like chocolate bars and oreo cookies. As Tracey was passing an aisle with a cart full of stuff she caught sight of a rack of T-Shirts. One in particular caught her eye, a pale gray background with a black bird in flight but the markings on the wings and breast were bright blue. It reminded her of Nargis and in a fit of near homesickness she put it in the cart on top of the shirt, sweatpants and boxer briefs Artemis had put on the list for Donnie. She's also asked for more socks and a pair of sneakers mens size ten. Casey had darted across the street to a shoe store for those and was hurrying back in when Tracey had just finished paying for everything. As they were sneaking back down into the Sewers Casey hefted the bag with the Blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. "What does she want all this stuff for?" He asked.

Tracey looked over to see which of the several bags Casey had in his hands and then answered. "We'll need it for Donnie and after him... well there's no telling when they'll come in handy later."

Picking through her bags, Tracey pulled out the T-shirt she got at Walgreen and pulled it on over her head and then took off her tank top and jacket. She brushed her fingers of the bird and sighed heavily. Hefting the bags that clustered around her, Tracey started walking after hanging a right at the next tunnel opening.

"Come on, I want to check on Donnie to make sure he's okay and then see how the others are doing... I'm pretty sure Raph is still pissed as hell fire and won't calm down unless he fights it out or I take him flying again."

She shook her head and about twenty minutes later they were back in the Lair and depositing the bags on the floor and began to pull all the things that Artemis had asked for. The rest she took to Leo's room and deposited on the bed before returning to the living room, figuring, almost hoping, that the boys were in the training room blowing off steam. Artemis inclined her head at Mikey's room as she unwrapped the blood pressure cuff. "They're all in there, they've been in there for about half an hour, I'd leave them alone, they just stopped shouting."

She picked up a pad of paper that had her neat cursive writing in columns and settled the stethoscope into her ears while she checked his blood pressure. Casey watched her for a few minutes before he sat down across from Master Splinter. "Master Splinter. How ya holding up."

Master Splinter held his hands clasped in his lap and shook his head. "As well as I can. I thought I had made peace with the idea that my sons might become injured but the reality of it is…" He trailed off when Artemis came over holding the pad of paper. "His blood pressure and vitals are human normal. I've given him antibiotics and fever reducers and as far as I can tell he's stable. I can't be more sure since I'm not a doctor, I'm going to be keeping a really close eye on him but I think we're almost out of the woods."

Master Splinter stood carefully then reached over and pulled her into a hug that surprised her. "Thank you, Thank you for saving my son."

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when he wakes up." She patted his shoulder and went back to sit beside Donnie.

Tracey let out a relieved breath and used both of her hands to push the hair from her face. "Artemis, you need to take a break." She said softly, resting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Take a shower and perhaps a nap. Master Splinter, Casey and I have this covered." She took a rag, crouched beside the couch and dabbed it over Donnie's forehead.

Artemis nodded. "In half an hour check his temperature, take his pulse and write them down on the pad. Do it every half hour. I'll check his blood pressure when I come back."

Tracey nodded and took the pad and pen from her. Watching her leave to room, Tracey looked back at Donnie and let out another quiet breath and touched his face with a gentle hand. She studied his face, noting his soft, human skin, gentle features and almost nerdy appearance. Her smile was a soft one and she checked the clock on her phone so she knew when to take his temp and pulse. 'He's cute... for a nerdy science guy.' She thought to herself. 'Can't wait to see his reaction when he wakes up and sees his new body. God I hope this isn't permanent.' A few minutes later she took the thermometer and put it beneath Donnie's tongue and waited for it to beep at her. She used her index and middle finger to check his pulse too, counting each beat and then writing it down on the pad of paper.  
She heard the shower start, then stop a few minutes later and saw Artemis walk into Leo's room and close the door. She'd been in there about 15 minutes when Mikeys door opened and the brothers walked out into the living room. Raph looked around then headed over to Tracey. Where's Artemis?" He demanded.

Tracey looked up at him after wringing out the rag in her hands and folded it across Donnie's forehead again. Her chest rose as she inhaled and fell again as she exhaled and looked at them all in turn before her eyes fell on Raph. Standing up she barely reached the middle of his massive forearms, but she didn't care. "Check the attitude before you speak to her because you're not the most patient of turtles and you all will be happy to know that Donnie is doing better." Tracey answered, looking Raph in the eyes calmly. "Artemis is in the bedroom and should be out shortly to take his blood pressure."

Raph nodded and moved to the back of the couch leaning his arms on it to look down at his brother. Leo and Mikey moved to take places beside him and they all stood a silent vigil watching over their brother who breathed slow and even. When Tracey moved the blanket to wipe sweat off his chest she winced at the bruises on his chest from the chest compressions needed to restart his heart. About half an hour later the door to Leo's room opened and Artemis came out running a hand through her messy hair. She paused when she saw the brothers standing behind the couch. Tracey half expected Raph to rush her but they all stayed put. Artemis raised an eyebrow but moved to kneel beside the couch, she checked his vitals again and finished by checking his blood pressure. She made notes on the pad and tapped her pen on the pad. "Elevation of 6%... he could be coming around soon…" She muttered and stood up smiling at Tracey. "Thanks for keeping an eye on him, I needed that nap.

Raph, Leo and Mikey all moved around to the middle of the room and Tracey noticed Splinter standing to watch them his own face curious. The boys knelt down in front of Tracey and Artemis and bowed their heads respectfully as Leo spoke. "Thank you both. We can never repay you for saving our brothers life, our lives are yours, where you walk we will follow, we will put our bodies between you and any harm from this day forward." It had the sound of ritual and Splinter dropped his cane.

"Nani?" Tracey started to ask, her face slightly confused and she looked at Artemis and then to Master Splinter to see if they knew what the boys meant. "There's no need for that guys. We would do anything we could to help."

She was in complete and utter shock without a clue of how to take Leo's statement, but she figured his words had a deeper meaning behind them. Artemis sighed softly and set the pad down on the floor. She stepped forward and rested a hand on each of the turtles heads in turn. "We cannot accept this oath, we are not from this world and we will someday return to our own world." She took Leo's hand first and raised him up to his feet then Raph and finally Mikey. "You owe us no debt but the debt of friends, no oath but the oath of family. We will walk with you as with brothers and hold unto our hearts our new family line." As she spoke her eyes glowed green and Tracey felt her own eyes glow gold, Artemis was weaving a spell and it resonated with her own burgeoning magic.

She sealed the spell with a kiss to each of the boys cheeks and motioned for Tracey to do the same. Stepping forward, Tracey took each of their faces in her hands and kissed their cheeks too, her eyes still glowing softly. Her fingers lingered on Leo's cheek before she nodded and let him go.

"We understand the importance of siblings and family. Understand more the needs of those on your team, they have more to offer than you think." She looked over at Mikey and gave him a wink.

The mood in the room broke when Casey cleared his throat. "Uh… What the hell just happened?"

Splinter spoke softly. "Old oaths of fealty. The boys felt they owed Artemis and Tracey a debt."

Artemis turned back to Donnie while Splinter explained, she peeled one eyelid back and checked his pupils and made a note while Leo moved in closer. "How is he?" He asked softly.

"Improving." She replied and set the pad down.

"What do we do now?" He asked reaching down to touch Donnies shoulder.

Artemis looked up at him. "You keep being the leader. Don't doubt yourself or what you've accomplished. "The Foot will make another move soon enough."


	8. Chapter 8

The Foot Clan made their move the very next morning by dropping a grenade full of purple ooze in gaseous form into the sewers while Leo, Raph and Mikey were on their way back from patrolling. Tracey and Artemis knew something was wrong when Leo collapsed into the lair in human form after half dragging his now human brothers to the entrance. Artemis knelt down checking all three brothers while Tracey yelled for Casey to help her.

"Shit shit shit! Casey! We need help over here!" She screamed, jumping up from the couch where she was flipping through a book, completely discarding it as she looked up and saw Leo collapsed to the floor. She gave several coughs, covering her mouth with her hands as she got closer and tried to keep her eyes averted as she put Leo's arm over her shoulder and carefully bring him to the couch. Tracey grabbed the warm blanket she had been laying on top of and handed it to him, a slight blush tinting her cheeks. "Why the hell would they do this now?! This is going to make things harder and it looks like we're going to have to find a new place to stay."

Tracey grumbles, pushing her hair back out of her face and then went to grab blankets for Raph and Mikey. "April would certainly freak out now... we might have to go there for a while."

Artemis shook her head. "It wasn't targeted. It looks like they just dropped it down a grate. I think they've been shadowing the boys and just tossed it in after them."

She was getting Raph laid out on a blanket beside the couch, he was as overly muscled in human form as he was in turtle form. Casey was laying Mikey down, Leo seemed to have passed out leaning against the couch while Artemis checked them over.

"I hate to say it but the guys are at a serious disadvantage now. I know they still have their skills, but they could be more susceptible to other toxins or shit like that." Tracey said quietly, walking quickly over to Mikey and bringing with her rags and water. "If this was a sporadic attack then they haven't been able to pinpoint exactly where we're located, they just know that we're in the sewers somewhere... that in itself is a little comfort, but it can't last long if we don't stop them." She dabbed at his forehead after feeling his flesh and shaking her head. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to wait until they wake up and see what happens from there. And tonight you and Casey are going on patrol." Artemis was scribbling on her notepad and had stuck a thermometer in Leo's mouth.

Tracey nodded and then looked at Casey, a slight smirk on her lips despite the situation they were currently in. "I hope you don't scare easily... or are afraid of height because if you hurl chunks on me I will make you regret it." She stated, her eyes flickering to gold for a moment before going back to bluish green. "Let's take care of the boys for now. Casey will you find them some clothes please and shoes, the last thing we need them to do is scar us for life and I would think they'd be grateful for it... at least now they'll fit in with everyone else which would make them harder for the Foot Clan to find." She let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. "This part of our quest is going to be a doozy this time Artemis, we'll just have to take it one day at a time."

Artemis motioned vaguely to her bag. "There's money in there, grab sweatpants, t-shirts and shoes." She said while she checked the other boys temperatures and made notes.

Casey dug out the wallet and hurried out while Artemis continued her work. The other three weren't having the same severe reactions to the metamorphic agent that Donnie had had and she wondered if it was due to how the agent was administered. Donnie still hadn't come around and he'd fallen unconscious immediately, while Leo had managed to get his brothers to the Lair before he'd passed out, none of the three were developing a fever and so far they hadn't developed any seizures nor had their hearts stopped. She sighed and sat on the floor cross legged and scowled at her notes.

Tracey handed Casey some of her money and pushed him toward the doors. "Go, we'll take care of them and be careful. We don't want them following you back too." She cautioned, giving him a final push. "Hurry back and don't shuffle your feet." Without giving him another thought, she turned on her heels and went back to the living room to check on the boys. She brought fresh water and wrung out rags to put on their foreheads and basically tend to their needs, even though they were unconscious, or to follow any and all instructions Artemis gave her.

At the moment Tracey was wiping the sweat from Mikey's skin and let out a soft sigh, gently brushing her fingers over his cheek. "It looks like you got your wish Mikey, but I hope you will remember what I told you... the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Casey had been gone about an hour when Leo started to come around, Artemis was dozing next to him and he sat up slowly trying not to wake her. Tracey saw him shifting, the blanket around his shoulders slipping down into his lap. She gave a quiet cough and looked away from him to hide the slight pinkish tint on her cheeks. In her world Tracey had had a thing for Leonardo, at it was no less so true now that she and Artemis were here in this universe with them. Even when he was a turtle, she admired him for his leadership qualities, his kind heart, and relentless need to prove himself worthy to his brothers. She realized just how much her feelings were rising to the surface for him and she pushed them back down. "How are you feeling Leo?" Tracey asked softly, standing up and walking to the couch on silent feet. "Do you want some tea? Casey should be back soon with clothes for you and the others, I don't think your shells are going to do much for you now."

He stared at his hands and arms, pale skin unmarked then looked up at her his blue eyes wide, he looked at the other three who were still out and then down at Artemis who was leaning back against the side of the couch sleeping. "How... " He cleared his throat, his usually deep voice slightly higher due to the smaller chest it was issuing from. "How long have we been out?"

"Not long." Tracey answered, blinking slowly and then looked at her phone to see what time it was. "Only a few hours, about two or so." She knelt down beside him, gently touched his hand, and gave him a soft smile. "If you don't want any tea then you should rest now, the sleep will heal you faster. Don't worry about anything other than getting better, Casey and I will be running around tonight."

"I feel fine… well mostly, it's weird not being in my true body but I don't feel sick or anything." He looked around at Raph who was coming around with a loud groan. "Jesus, what the hell hit us?" He grumbled sitting up.

Tracey turned slightly until she could see him and hastily waved her hands in a 'shushing' motion before pointing to Artemis who was still sleeping on the couch. Together their eyes widened when she moved slightly but thankfully it was only into a more comfortable position on the couch. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and thanked the Gods that she was still out.

"Believe me Leo you'll get used to it, but hopefully you won't have to for long. Mikey thinks being a turtle is hard, it's even worse being human... Artemis and I know all too well." Tracey said softly, letting out a sigh before standing and walking to Raph. "Unless you want a sleepy, yet pissed Dragon crushing your white butt this time, I suggest you keep it done... are you doing alright? Do you want anything to drink or eat?"

He shook his head staring at him arms then legs and finally glaring up at her before wrapping the blanket around his waist and standing up unsteadily. Mikey woke when Raph stood up and his startled yelp woke Artemis who jumped and looked around before she noticed the three boys and relaxed, she looked down at the notepad in her lap then at the wallclock and nodded. "Three hours… Apparently inhaling the ooze is less stressful to the system than being injected…"

"Is this permanent?" Leo asked wrapping his blanket more firmly around his waist.

"I have no idea." Artemis replied. "I won't know until Donnie wakes up and we can go over the data."

"I'm sorry I don't have more tech skills other than hacking guys, but I'll start combing through the ghost files and see if anything else has been uploaded to the TCRI network yet." Tracey said, crossing her arms over her chest and scanning each boys' faces before nodding. "Perhaps there's something in the information that we haven't found yet."

She shifted her weight to her other side before she left and got Master Splinter, knowing that he'd like to see his sons were awake. Instead of coming back with him, Tracey sent him on to the living room while she went to Donnie's lab and sat down at his computer. Moving the mouse, the screen lit up and showed her that there was a login screen with a password. She would get three tries before the computer would shut down and go black. Tracey thought long and hard while looking at the screen and then poised her fingers over the keys she thought were the right ones.

"Turtle Power." She said with a smile, pretty confident with her choice.

Her smile fell when the screen flashed red, with the words 'ACCESS DENIED' across the screen and then the countdown began. Sitting up straighter, Tracey squared her shoulders and poised her fingers over the keys again and let out a breath.

"Let's try something else... something science related. How about 'Albert Einstein'."

Again the screen flashed the words in red and she growled at her lack of success and pushed the chair away from the desk and swiveled around till she couldn't see the screens any more and her eyes looked around the room. Suddenly she saw it and made a noise that sounded a lot like she had an epiphany and rolled herself back to the table.

"You are good Donnie, but I'm better!" She said with another smile before she typed in her last guess. "Family." The screen lit up and brought up his screen-saver, a picture of him and his brothers with Master Splinter. They all looked happy together, but the others wouldn't have seen it because there was always some jumble of equations and formulas on the computer.

"Let the digging commence."

Casey returned while she was working and distributed clothing to the three now human teenagers who dressed quickly and milled around Artemis while she checked their vitals and asked them what seemed like a thousand questions. Raph finally seemed to have had enough because he stomped off to start punching the heavy bag only to be forced to stop after a few strikes when his now human knuckles started to bleed. Artemis cleaned the knuckles and patted his arm. "You're new to human form Raph, your new skin hasn't developed the calluses you had in your previous form."

Raph stared down at his hands then balled them into fists. Artemis tucked her pen into a pocket and took his hands in hers. "Raphael, your hands in either form are powerful things." She carefully opened his fingers and ran her fingers over the palms and he squirmed a little at the sensation, then she gripped his fingers hard and he winced a little. "You see, anyone's hands, even mine, can be powerful when used the right way. You just have to learn how to use these new hands." She let his hands go and he stood for a moment looking down at them. She left him to his contemplations and went to check on Donnie.

Tracey wasn't able to find out much but she found the chemical formulae for the purple ooze though she wasn't able to make any sense of it. She saved it aside for later, her best find though in all the unintelligible mess was a list of addresses for safe houses. "Well at least my little adventure through the virtual world wasn't a complete waste of time... I just hope Donnie will be up and moving in the next day or two." Tracey said, resting her elbows on the desk and putting her face in her hands tiredly. "What a mess the Foot Clan has handed to us."

She sighed and folded her arms on the surface of the desk. Looking at the screens through drooping eyelids, Tracey didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she was woken up about an hour and a half later.

Artemis had draped a blanket over her shoulders but it was Splinter who woke her. "Artemis is asking for you." He said softly.

Tracey mumbled a little in her sleep before looking up at Master Splinter and blinked at him. She stifled a yawn with her hand and carefully scooted her chair back.  
"Be honest with me Master Splinter, how many times has Donnie fallen asleep at his computers?" She laughed and stood up, drawing the blanket closer to her body.

He smiled. "Many times." He led her to where Artemis was sitting next to the couch her legs crossed indian fashion while she flipped through her notes. "Hey Tracey, I need you to test a theory I have. "I think the boys might be able to transform back and forth the way we can but I need to stay by Donnie, his temperature keeps fluctuating and his heart rhythm is all over the place. Can you and Master Splinter see if you can walk the boys through transforming?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Tracey thought about it and nodded. "That could work... it's going to hurt like hell, but it could work." She replied, stifling another yawn behind her hand and pushing some stray hairs from her face. "Okay, we'll go to the training room for this exercise because this will get interesting and then in a few hours Casey and I will head up topside and start patrolling... I tell you that I did find some addresses for a few safe houses that was should check out sometime soon. Baxter Stockman may be at one of them and then we can arrest him."

Granted that Tracey knew it wasn't going to be that easy, but in theory she hoped that it would be. She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the boys, now fully clothed. "Anyone have any objections?"

Raph and Mikey looked at Leo and he nodded. "We've seen what it does to you and Artemis but pain isn't a new thing for us. We're willing to try."

"If one of you manages to transform back come in here and let me take your vitals." Artemis called as she dragged a clunky overpowered laptop into her lap and started looking up medical information online.

Tracey took a deep breath and nodded to Artemis before turning on her heels and grabbing the three blankets on the back side of the couch as they passed it. She surmised that if the boys were able to change back to their turtle selves then they would probably want to use the blankets during the changing process so they didn't rip through their new clothes.

Tracey looked back at Casey and motioned him to follow the group. "You might as well be present for this too seeing as we'll be at it for a little while and it would be better if I don't have to find you afterward." She said as they got to the training room. "This will do nicely. Okay, this is going to take some time and patience... Raph, I'm looking at you sweetheart, because we all know you don't have a lot of patience for foolishness. Here, take these..."

She handed them the blankets and then gave them space, turning her back to them while giving instructions for them to strip down and wrap the blankets around their waists. She herself had snagged her satchel on the way and looked at Casey, using her finger in a spinning motion as a silent direction for him to turn around too. The boys did as she directed and Tracey quickly pulled off her clothes and wrapped herself up in the blanket Artemis had draped over her shoulders and secured it tightly so it wouldn't slip before she was ready. Her clothes she put in the plastic bag she now carried with her at all times and pushed the bag off to the side. Casey was already looking perplexed at Tracey and she rolled her eyes.

"It's necessary and in a moment you'll see why. Okay I want you three to clear your minds of everything and picture nothing but a solid black void in your mind. Once you've accomplished that you need to envision your turtle forms standing in front of you. After that you will have to accept your other halves and theoretically you'll be able to transform back into your true selves. It's going to take time and patience and it's not going to be easy, but we've got to try... and here we go."

Tracey took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The darkness returned and she felt warm air rushing over her skin as the atmosphere around her crackled with energy. She hear the Thunderbird's call echoing around her and she smiled, this never got old, but the pain surely did. Outside her mind, Tracey doubled over as her bones and joints cracked and she let out a low cry in her own voice before it turned more into a trumpeting call of victory. Standing up to her full height, Tracey let out a thundering call and spread her wings out to her sides, looking quick pleased with herself, her orbs of golden color passing over them and then spied Casey, his mouth hanging open. She let out a series of chirps that sounded like laughter, her talons clicking on the floor.

The boys watched her before each of them settled into a comfortable position, meditation wasn't new to them, Master Splinter had insisted they all learn but try as they might none of them could bring the visualization of their true selves to reality. Raph and Mikey had to stop for a break after nearly an hour but Leo kept at it. He seemed to feel it was a personal failure if he couldn't do it. Artemis had come to watch from the doorway and she was the first to notice the change in his skin tone. She motioned to Tracey and pointed at her skin then at Leo whose skin was slowly starting to turn green, they didn't notice his breathing getting faster and rougher until he suddenly collapsed and started to convulse.

"Shit." Artemis swore and ran forward, she vaguely noticed that the green was retreating from his skin as she turned him over on his side so he wouldn't hurt himself while he seized.

Raph and Mikey were standing back while Casey moved in to help Artemis. The fit didn't last long, maybe three minutes and then Artemis was rolling him back onto his back and peering into his face. "Leo, follow my finger with your eyes." She moved her finger slowly back and forth and he followed it with his eyes. "Good, no permanent damage."

He raised a hand and looked almost like he wanted to cry. "This looks pretty permanent." He rasped.

Tracey shuffled herself forward and peered quiet easily over their shoulders. She knew she wasn't going to like the amount of pain she'd have to endure, but it would be worth it if she could show them her support. Letting out another cry of pain, Tracey reverted to her human form and collected her blanket around herself and rested her hand on Leo's shoulder. "If we can find Stockman then we can reverse the purple ooze. Without Donnie, Stockman would be the next best person to isolate the genetic code necessary for the reengineering process." She said quietly, looking into his blue eyes. "We won't leave until we've finished what we were sent to do."  
He took a shaky breath and started to sit up, Artemis helped him up and checked his heartbeat with the stethoscope. He sat passive under her hands and Artemis made notes before she stood up and motioned for Tracey to follow her to Leo's room.

Clutching the blanket at her front, Tracey silently followed Artemis and shut the door behind them. She had a heavy feeling in her throat and she found it hard to swallow. "Okay spill, do you think there's anyway to get the boys back to normal?" She asked in a quiet voice, even though the door was closed. "We can't give them any false hope that they'll remain human."

Artemis fiddled with the stethoscope. "I don't know. This is beyond my medical knowledge and it's all I can do to keep Donnie stable. He's not doing good. As in his heartbeat is so erratic that I'm worried he'll have permanent damage if he wakes up." She sat down and ran a hand through her hair. "The ones who are conscious worry me a little more right now. They've been stripped of their identity and they can't fight back. Not to mention in a human form they could be more susceptible to illnesses, I mean for Gods sake they've never been vaccinated. They could come down with a dozen illnesses that they should have been vaccinated for as babies. And then there's the psychological implications…" She trailed off and rubbed her eyes with both hands. "I want you to take the boys topside tomorrow during the day. Take them to do stuff they can't do in their normal forms. I think they'll need the morale boost."

Tracey sighed, but nodded. She knew that it would be important for them know what the world topside was like. "You're right Artemis..." She started, placing her hand on her shoulder. "All we can really do at this point is show them a good time and hope for the best. They'll have to go through their training in their new bodies now and

I think that would frustrate Raph the most, but it's something that must be done if the Foot Clan decides to actually search the sewers for the turtles and attack." Tracey looked over at the clock on the wall and sighed again. "Well, time to go. You should get some rest now or at least nap every few hours."

Giving her a final pat on the shoulder, Tracey left the bedroom and went back into the training room. She tapped Casey on the arm and pushed her satchel into his arms so he could hold onto it for her. Looking up at the ceiling, Tracey couldn't help but smile a little at the rolling thunder she felt tumble through the clouds above their heads. "Get some rest guys, we'll have big place to do tomorrow." Tracey said with a smile.

In a shower of golden light, she had transformed and nudged each of the boys in the chest gently before she crouched down for Casey to get on. He settled himself in and gripped the woven band around Tracey's neck to give him something to hold onto without ripping out her feathers, which she wouldn't forgive him for doing in the least, unless he liked flying home in her talons. Tracey chirped softly and trundled away to the storm doors and they vanished, starting their patrol to the sounds of Casey's manly screams as they took off.


	9. Chapter 9

When they got home at 4am Tracey was exhausted and it was all Casey could do to stay awake long enough to get back to the Lair. Artemis was napping on a pallet next to the couch and Splinter slept in his recliner nearby; Donnies condition didn't seem to have changed. Leo was sitting on the couch with a stack of manga's next to him and one in his now human hands while he read. He looked up when they came in and nodded to them, his dirty blond hair a counterpoint to his almost unreal blue eyes; Casey staggered off to lay down on one of the other couches as Tracey transformed and got dressed. When she came out Leo was waiting for her. "Artemis asked me to give you an update if she was asleep when you got back. Donnie's condition hasn't changed and she's going to stay here with him when we go up later but she's asked for something with more caffeine in it." He glanced over at the couch while he spoke softly. "She won't tell me anything about him. Tracey, he's my little brother please, I need to know." He wa pleading and looked on the verge of tears with the anxiety and stress.

Tracey's heart went out to Leo and admired how much dedication he had to his brother, all his brothers in fact, he cared for them deeply even though he didn't quite know how to express it. She looked at Artemis who was sleeping peacefully and then to Donnie, who was sleeping, but every once in awhile she saw his body twitch and sweat perspired on his forehead. Taking a rag, Tracey wrung it out and dabbed it across Donnie's forehead, trying her hardest to avoid Leo's beautiful blue eyes, but to no avail. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, Tracey set the rag back in the bowl of water and pushed hair from her face as she contemplated what she was going to say. A tired breath of air left her lips and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I know this must be hard for you and your brothers Leo, but you must realize that we're doing everything we can to understand what's happening to you guys." She started, taking a blanket from the pile near the couch and shivering a little while she wrapped it around her body. "Artemis and I have a few other concerns now that everyone is human, the most concerning one is you and your brothers' health. When humans are born they get a series of vaccinations to keep them healthy and so their bodies can fight against infections. You've never had to worry about that since you all were turtles, but now you're human and we don't know how you're going to be affected now."

Tracey stopped, took another breath, and looked at Leo again, memorizing every inch of his handsome face. She walked to his side and touched his hand gently, trying to do anything that might comfort him. "We have to be strong and hope that Donnie will get better soon. You've been changed and stripped of your identities and I'm going to try my hardest to help you get it back... I promise you that."

He nodded slowly and after a moment he went back to the couch and his manga while Tracey went to get some sleep. When she woke up at around 11am she could hear music and what sounded like Mikey laughing. When she got up and went to look she saw Artemis dancing the Waltz with Mikey. He was better at it than anyone would have expected and he spun Artemis in a theatrical twirl when the song ended passing her to Leo when the next song started and Artemis started talking Leo through the steps of a Jitterbug. He was grinning, all three boys were grinning while Artemis taught them to dance. When that song ended Leo passed her over to Raph who suddenly looked nervous but Artemis simply took his hands and showed him when to rest them for a Charleston twostep. Tracey found herself mimicking the steps a little but the song ended before she had figured out more than a handful of them. A timer went off and Artemis went to check on Donnie while the boys talked animatedly with each other. "Mikey… I never knew you could waltz." Leo was saying.

"Like who was I gonna dance with?" Mikey replied and rubbed the back of his neck, his lighter blue eyes on the ground. "I learned by watching old movies."

Leo patted him on the back. "I still should have known, you were great."

Mikey grinned and puffed up a bit with pride. Leo looked at Raph and gave him a teasing smirk, Raph crossed muscled arms over his chest narrowing his hazel eyes. "What?"

"You looked pretty happy to be dancing with Artemis." Leo teased.

Raph bushed dark red and scowled. Mikey looked between his brothers and groaned."Oh come on! Why do you two have to like the same girl?"  
Leo looked surprised. "We don't."

Mikey blinked. "But…"

"Mikey, don't think so hard, I can hear your brain overheating." Raph said gruffly and started to walk away from his brothers.

"I think Tracey's pretty hot." Mikey said suddenly and Raph stopped to look at him; Mikey flushed and continued. "She's smart, she's pretty and she listens to what I have to say. She's really chill, I mean Artemis is cool but scary cool ya know, Master Splinter cool. She just knows stuff and she saved Donnie…" He trailed off not sure how to finish the thought. "But Tracey is really relaxed and she makes me feel like I'm normal."

Leo nodded. "Yeah, she's got that kind of vibe, like she gets it, whatever it is she understands."

Raph shrugged. "I dunno, Tracey feels like a sister, like I've grown up with her and can't imagine kissing her. Artemis on the other hand is…" He didn't get to finish the thought because Artemis was calling for them to come into the living room. Donnie was finally conscious.

All throughout their conversation, Tracey kept behind the corner, but stayed within hearing distance. A blush sprang to her cheeks instantly when she heard the boys talking about her and Artemis and couldn't help but giggled a little on the inside. She smirked a little for Artemis, if only she could have heard what the boys had said about her, but then again she would soon enough from Tracey. She ended up waiting for a moment before leaving her hiding place and following the boys to the living room where she saw Artemis with her notebook and Donnie, eyes open and mouth slowly working to form words. "You gave us a scare, my dear." Tracey said, giving him a smile and nod. "It's nice to see that you're awake though. How are you feeling and can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

She knew Donnie would need time to get himself back on the mends, but at least now they could start feeding him soft foods and help him regain his strength.

"Thirsty…" He mumbled and Artemis was helping him sit up so she could check his mobility.

Leo was keeping Raph and Mikey at a distance until Artemis gave the go ahead but once she'd given them the thumbs up all three brothers were hugging Donnie gently but enthusiastically. Artemis stood by Tracey smiling, the notepad in her hands totally forgotten. "It's a minor miracle you know? The odds of him coming around after heart failure are dismal and he's got full cognition. Know's his name, his brothers names, our names, what date it was when he was shot… Gods it's like a huge weight is gone." She sounded relieved and Tracey saw her wipe her eyes.

"I know what you mean my sweet." Tracey replied, wrapping an arm around her and giving her a gentle squeeze before whispering in her ear. "You'll never guess the conversations the boys were having about us, but you're very light on your feet." She smirked and left to get Donnie some water for starters and then she'd get him something with a little more protein to it. Tracey returned to the couch and applied a little pressure to Raph and Mikey to get them to scoot over a little before she had enough room to give Donnie the glass of water.

"Start with this and then I'll get out something that will settle your stomach in a few minutes, it's really good to have you back Donnie." Stepping back out of the way before she got mauled by the boys again, Tracey stood back and smiled.

Casey and Master Splinter were standing nearby while the boys talked to Donnie filling him n on what was going on and teasing him by calling him Sleeping Beauty. When Artemis disappeared into the bedroom no one really noticed until Donnie asked to see her notes which she seemed to have taken with her. Tracey tried to shush them so they'd leave Donnie alone, threatening to knock them all out if they didn't and then she'd draw on their faces and take pictures of them. She let the devilish smirk rest on her lips even went she went into the kitchen to prepare something soft for Donnie. "I think Artemis went to our bedroom, I would knock if the doors closed." Tracey suggested, coming back to the couch with a glass of instant breakfast. "In a day or so, when you're feeling better I'd like to go over the information I found in the ghost file... by the way, I love the password you chose." She gave Donnie a wink.

He flushed a little, Leo patted his shoulder and went to get the notepad from Artemis. He opened the door quietly and slipped in and had to smile at the sight of Artemis passed out on the bed. She had barely slept the entire time Donnie had been out and what little sleep she'd gotten hadn't been very restful. He saw the notepad on his desk and picked it up glancing down at her notes on all of them. She stirred in her sleep and muttered a name before subsiding and he leaned over to pull a blanket up over her. He was very careful when closing the door, he handed Donnie the notepad before looking over at Tracey. "Hey Tracey… who's Iolaus?"

"Hm?" Tracey made a noise when she looked up at Leo as he came back into the living room and entered into the kitchen where she was wiping down the counters so she could start up the stove for grilled cheese and soup. Instantly she stopped and looked over her shoulder at him and then at the bread she was about to butter. Tracey cleared her throat and put her thoughts in order before speaking.

"When did Artemis say something about him?" She asked quietly, spreading butter on bread and cutting the cheese.

He shrugged and sat down on one of the stools. "She said it in her sleep."

Raph came over and sat down beside him. "Who are we talking about?"

"Some guy named Iolaus, Artemis said his name in her sleep." Leo replied.

Tracey continued to work, pulling out cans of various soups to heat heat up for herself and the boys. And she let out a sigh but on the inside she was worried about Arty. "Iolaus was a guy we met in Ancient Greece, he and Hercules were the heroes that we hung out with while we were there for a few months. They got close and had something between them, but unfortunately we were sent here next and we had to leave them, our friends behind." Tracey replied, starting the first grilled cheese sandwich. "I guess this is going to be the down side to our new adventurous life... we leave the friends we make behind."

As she started to think about it, her heart started to throb painfully and she let her hair fall into her face to hide it from view. She wasn't entirely surprised when Leo put a hand on her shoulder before wrapping one arm around her waist and giving her a hug. Raph spoke quietly from his seat. "Master Splinter says that you never really leave people behind, you always carry a little of them with you. If that's true you guys aren't gonna have room in those bags of yours for all of the bits of us you'll be taking with you."

Mikey had wandered up at some point and felt compelled to add his two cents. "You guys can take our HipHop Christmas Album! We finally finished it."

A small smile bloomed on her lips and Tracey smiled, looking to each of them and nodded. "I'd like that Mikey and I'm grateful that we were able to meet you guys. You four are so much fun to hang out with." She answered before letting out a light laugh. "Yeah I think it would be a little difficult to put the four of you in our satchels and carry you around, a little awkward too. Anyway, how many grilled cheeses to you guys want?"

They all opted for two each and Tracey was just pouring the soup when Donne spoke up. "Hey do you know when Artemis will be awake? I want to ask her about some of her notes."

Leo walked over and took the notepad and lightly tapped him on top of the head with it. "Relax Donnie, you just woke up, and Artemis just got to sleep after nearly four days."

Letting out another light laugh, Tracey shook her head at Donnie and handed him the first of the grilled cheese sandwiches and a large cup of soup. "Please eat first Donnie, you have to regain your strength. She'll probably wake later tonight and then you and Artemis can go over the notes, but not before then. Even Raph knows better than to wake her now and she is exhausted. Perhaps when you're all finished we can go up topside and I can show you guys what the city looks like when its day... we might even say hi to April too, she'd flip."

Tracey went back to flipping the sandwiches and serving up hot soups to the boys as they sat down at the table. Splinter accepted a cup of soup but declined the sandwich and watched his sons joke and laugh while they ate. He could see vestiges of the turtles in their faces and for all they were human in form they were still themselves, Mikey still goofed around but subtly tried to gain his brothers approval, Raph was still impatient and a little abrasive but ultimately still trying to prove his worth, Donnie was still the absentminded professor of the group who saw more than was probably appropriate and Leo was as always the stalwart warrior who questioned himself more than anyone else. But as Splinter looked around the table his eyes rested on Tracey, a woman out of her own element with a fierce protective streak who was trying to reshape herself to be stronger, braver and more vital to her partnership with Artemis.

His thoughts strayed to Artemis, she was a puzzle to him more than anyone else at the table. She was self assured, more so that anyone else he'd met, he knew there was suffering in her past but she'd turned that suffering into a core of steel and made of herself a force to be reckoned with. But he had the feeling there was something lurking under the surface, he didn't know what it was but it worried him. Leo said something that drew Splinters attention back to him. "Master Splinter? Did you hear me?"

"I am sorry my son, I was preoccupied." Splinter focused on Leo who smiled slightly.

"I was asking what you think of Tracey's idea to take us to the surface since we're human now." Leo was toying with his spoon spinning it between his now human fingers.

Turning off the stove, Tracey set her own cup of soup and sandwich down on the table and sat down to eat. She loved cheese, almost as much as Mikey, if not more so. Having put enough velveeta cheese on her sandwich, Tracey had to pinch the bottom of the bread to stop the cheesy goodness from slipping away from her before she could eat it. "Haw haw hot!" She made a noise and sucked in some cold air to cool her burnt tongue and then licked the cheese that had melted onto her fingers.

After Tracey finished her sandwich and started with her soup, she listened to Leo and Master Splinter's conversation without interrupting them.  
Splinter considered it for a moment while he sipped his soup then spoke. "I think it would be a good idea. I have often wished you could see the city during the day without fear of recrimination. I would prefer that you wait until Donatello has had some time to recuperate and Artemis can go with you though. The Foot Clan is still at large and I would feel better about your safety with them both there."

Quietly sipping her soup until it was all gone, Tracey set it down on the table in front of her and looked at Leo and Master Splinter before running different scenarios through her head before nodding at each potentially dangerous situations and then she looked down at her hands. "Hm... you have a point Master Splinter and I should have thought about that before I suggested going up top. I'm sorry Leo, perhaps there's something else you guys would like to do? Oh I know! I think I could take you on now, I have been practicing Boken and I believe I can take you now."

He raised an eyebrow and Mikey laughed. "Oh this should be good. I've never seen anyone but Master Splinter beat Leo."

"Hey!" Raph protested.

"With a sword." Mikey clarified. "Beating him up in Judo practice doesn't count."

"Then it's settled!" Tracey stated rather confidently, taking her plate and soup cup to to kitchen sink and washed them. "Take care of your dishes and then go to the training room, we'll take a few minutes to stretch and prepare."

Putting her dishes in the drying rack, Tracey dried her hands on the dish towel and left the kitchen. Mikey hurried to finish his food and cleaned his dishes before following after her and they chatted lively till they got to the training room and Tracey began her stretches. About ten minutes of stretching, Tracey was ready and just in time too for Raph, Leo and Master Splinter arrived and Leo began his stretches, making sure that he was through and completely flexible. Tracey took a deep breath and knuckle-bumped Mikey as he gave her a thumbs up and she took two Boken swords from the rack and tossed it to Leo. He caught it and twirled it in his hands before preparing himself, sword pointed at Tracey until he sheathed it by his side and waited. Taking a deep breath, Tracey smiled and held her sword at her side and bowed respectfully as Leo mirrored her movements. She took another deep breath and struck a pose, watching Leo's every movement to see how he would proceed.  
"Shall we have a wager just to make things interesting?" She asked, starting to circle Leo. "It could be fun."

"What's the wager?" Raph asked before Leo could refuse.

"Loser will make whatever the winner wants and will clean up the kitchen by themselves, no matter how dirty it gets, for an entire week." Tracey said with a smile. "Any objections?"

"What if you're gone before the week is up?" Leo asked tapping the boken on his foot.

"Well we were in Ancient Greece for several months so the likelihood of us going anywhere within a few weeks that we're here isn't very high." Tracey said with a shrug of her shoulders as she spaced her hands on the Boken sword and prepared herself.

Leo shrugged and slide effortlessly into a stance. "Sounds fair."

"Excellent." Tracey replied with a smile and prepared herself. "Let's begin."

Having studied Iolaus and his erratic fighting style in Ancient Greece, Tracey could still pick out his moments of hesitation and that's when she would strike. It soon became apparent to Leo that Tracey wasn't going to make the first more and so he decided to test her. She said she had been practicing so now was a perfect time to see how much she had advanced since their first lesson. Taking a step forward, Leo gripped the sword and swung down, preparing to tap her shoulder with the end of his wooden sword. Tracey had seen his arm muscles twitch and she was impressed with how fast Leo brought down his weapon, it was almost to the point that she panicked and went blank. Instincts kicked in and she diverted his sword by stepping bringing up her own, about shoulder height, and angled downward, making his sword slide over her own and off to her right. 'That was close.' Tracey thought to herself, her heart racing with the rising adrenaline. 'He is a master swordsman after all, stay on your toes.'

Next she advance forward and together they exchanged blows after blows. It became a dance and they moved quickly, darting out and in, Boken swords smacking against each other sharply. Without really knowing how long they had been dueling, Tracey could feel sweat starting to perspire on her forehead and a few drops were rolling down her back. She eyed Leo to see how he was holding up and was happy to see that he too was showing a few signs of exhaustion. Her hands were going numb from gripping the sword, but was determined to out last Leo. She smiled and was rewarded with a confused look from him and then she saw it, the opening she was looking for. Making a move as if to strike him from above, Leo was prepared to counter, but suddenly Tracey dropped low and swung her leg out and swept his feet out from under him. Now that he was off balance, she brought her Boken sword around and rapped his hand, causing him to drop his own and fall back, stunned. Tracey moved in quickly for the 'kill', straddling his waist with her knees and poising the sword above his chest. There she stay, breathing heavily and shaking from the adrenaline. Master Splinter clapped his clawed hands and caused Tracey to look up at him with a smile. Looking back down at Leo, she smirked and blushed a little before standing up and helping him up.

"You have gotten better." Leo said quietly, exhaling heavily and drawing in another breath and allowing her to help him to his feet. "We should do this again."

"Agreed, but for now..." Tracey breathed, giving him a bow. "I think for dinner I'll be in the mood for stir fry and rice."

"You go girl!" Mikey laughed, congratulating her on a job well done.


	10. Chapter 10

Authors Note: I would just like to say I am amazed at how many people are reading this story! Thank you all for being brave enough to read this weird thing that me and my best friend wrote and I'm sorry if its weird as hell. Please hold you applause until the end and let me know if you like the girls enough to want to see more!

At some point Artemis had woken and was standing just inside the door, she'd been watching with mild amusement and when Tracey beat Leo she too had clapped but something was nagging at her. She retrieved her notepad and sat down in Leo's room to try to order her thoughts on paper but she left the door open and when Master Splinter passed the door he was surprised to see her up, he tapped quietly on the door frame and she looked up. "I am surprised to see you up." He said stepping into the room.

She smiled slightly but he saw it was a distracted expression, he shut the door so they could speak privately, he'd long since broken the boys of listening at each others door. "You look troubled, I would think you would be celebrating, All my sons are on their feet and you saved Donatello though his body may never fully recover he is alive because of you."

Artemis stood and offered him the chair but he declined sitting instead on the rumpled bed. She sat down and fiddled with her pen before speaking. "I've been noticing things since we got here. Aside from the obvious strangeness of us even being here in the first place there's our unusual ability to become a mythological creature at will when Bebop and Rocksteady were totally stuck in their anthropomorphic forms and the boys are trapped in their human forms, I mean even with some modification to the ooze the effects shouldn't be so dramatically different from case to case."

Splinter nodded and let her continue. "Then there's that bout with Leo just now."

"You saw that?" He asked mildly surprised, he hadn't known she was awake to see it.

"I saw it, and no offense to Tracey and her ability to learn fast, she should not have been able to beat him. Not after one lesson with only one or two days of practicing. Not even after having learned some fighting skill with Iolaus and Hercules in ancient Greece. The sword is a ridiculously complex weapon to learn, even the boken." She motioned to one of the Katanas above the desk. "And the Katana is even more complex."

"I see your point." He said and waited for her to finish her thoughts.

"Add to that that I was able to trounce Raph even though he was three times my size, had better reach and outweighed me by a lot. He still has all those advantages but I know with a capital K that I could beat him again. But Master Splinter it has been years since I actually sparred with anyone. I haven't kept up my forms, I haven't gone back for more training. Raph should have beaten me in the first five minutes but when we were sparring I just knew how to beat him." She motioned to the notepad. "And it's not just the fighting and the mutations, I was an EMT nearly ten years ago. A lot has changed since I had my training. Some of it will always be the same, sutures, CPR and stuff like that, simple stuff but before I came here I could barely remember how to calculate blood pressure. It had just been so long and I should have been out of practice but it's like I'd learned it all yesterday and I Knew it. Tracey has changed too."

He leaned forward a little. "How so?"

"Tracey is passive. As long as I've known her she avoids conflict, On a number of occasions I had asked her to call out of work for one of our business functions and she always said no, not because it would be irresponsible to but because she didn't want her boss to be mad at her, or she didn't want to get in trouble or yelled at. And her risk of actually getting in trouble at that point was laughably low. Here she's almost as confrontational as I am, she wants to learn how to use a weapon for goddess sake. In our own world that would have been as alien a concept for her as being a pacifist would be for me." Artemis paused and took a breath. "I'm not saying it's a bad change or that I don't know her anymore but it's still a very drastic change and I wonder if some outside force is responsible for it all."

"Outside force, like one of your Gods?" Splinter asked his mind sifting through the details of what she'd told him.

"Maybe, but I can't feel my Gods here, and these changes really started in Greece but I'm more aware of them here. No, I think this has something to do with the Force that sent us here when we were supposed to go back to our own world. Zeus brought us to Ancient Greece and tried to send us home but Someone else intercepted us and sent us here."

Splinter mulled over her words and considered what he knew of them both. He hadn't known Tracey for all the years Artemis had but he had wondered about her skill himself. He could have credited Artemis's medical knowledge as hers by right of study and practice if she hadn't just told him she hadn't practiced it in nearly ten years. The same with her martial arts skills. "Have you noticed any other changes in yourself or Tracey?" He asked.

Artemis shook her head. "Not really, we've always both been the type to be prepared, Tracey would pack the whole house if I let her when we traveled for our business but I'm the type to be a little over prepared too and I'm a survivalist. I spent a lot of time making sure I had the tools and preparations I needed on hand if an emergency cropped up, Tracey picked up a lot of my tricks over the years for that. The only really strange thing is how healthy she's eating right now." She smiled and have a small huff of laughter.

"What do you mean?" Splinter asked.

"I used to tease her all the time about her eating habits, she ate like a teenage boy. I've seen her eat 6 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers from Wendy's in one sitting, she can eat two foot long hot dogs in one sitting and her food pyramid has Cheese and Mayo as their own food groups. I'm the healthy eater between us but here she's actually eating the same way I do which is healthy and frequent, I used to get on to her about her habit of only eating once a day 'Your body is a machine, it needs fuel' all that stuff. In Greece it wasn't a surprise since they didn't have fast food joints but here…." She shrugged. "I don't know if it's connected but…" She trailed off.

Splinter nodded. "You have thought of many valid points but you haven't expressed your real concern." He prompted and she blinked in surprise.

"You're right…" She took a breath and looked down at the pen in her hands ordering her thoughts before she spoke. "What happens if we start to rely on this and it vanishes at a crucial moment? I practice magic but one thing I've always been very careful to do is not to rely on it, it's one of the things that always bugs me about super religious types, christian or pagan, they'll rely on the power to the exclusion of the mundane and then they freak out when it fails them. I use magic to augment what I can already do but I always learn the mundane application first. What if the Magic that's letting Tracey be a super swordswoman fails when she's in the middle of a critical fight? We don't even know what or who is giving us these abilities or for what reason but it's not us." She hesitated for a moment then finished her thought. "And on the flipside of the coin, what happens if these changes are permanent? What does that mean for us in the future?"

Splinter looked down at his cane for a few minutes then spoke slowly. "You are in a situation I have never found myself in, or imagined myself in. For all my wisdom I have seen considerably less of the world that you. My concern has been for teaching my sons and enlightening myself, but if there is anything I can be sure of it is that you will not let any lasting harm come to you or Tracey and that you will find answers. You have a sharp and seeking mind."

He stood up and patted her shoulder. She smiled slightly. "Thanks Splinter, would you mind keeping this to yourself? Tracey likes her newfound skills and I don't want to shake her confidence in herself. I just needed to think through this conundrum."

"Of course." Splinter smiled and left the room. Artemis looked at her notes then carefully removed the pages and pulling out a bowl and a pack of matches she set them on fire and let the ashes curl in the bowl before she tossed the remains in the toilet and flushed them away.

She went into the living room and plopped down next to Tracey smiling. "So I heard you beat Leo."

"Hey sleepy head." Tracey replies with a smile and poking her in the nose before tapping her own. "I hope you're well rested and yeah I beat Leo... unless he let me win, but you should have seen it! I didn't know who was going to pass out from exhaustion first." She laughed and pushed matted hair out of her face with another smile.

"I could have sworn it would have been me because he's gone through so much training with Master Splinter... He ha, I still need lots of practice, but I think I'm getting the hang of the Boken swords now. If I can get to the point where my hands don't go numb then I'll be happy." She stated, flexing her hands in front of her face before turning herself bodily on the couch. "I'll have to grab a shower here in a minute, but in the next day or so we should take the boys topside. Master Splinter figured that we should wait until Donnie has had a few days to regain his strength and I think you should take some time to rest too, you haven't slept well since you started watching over Donnie and I need you at a hundred percent so we can figure out our next move from here."

Artemis looked over at Donnie who was typing away on his laptop, he was still laying on the couch pillows behind his head and neck and a heavy blanket draped over his torso and legs. "He's recovering faster than I expected. By tomorrow he'll be strong enough, and I'll have had a full night's sleep. Casey has to go back to work tonight and I don't want any of you patrolling tonight."

She watched Mikey trying to balance on his hoverboard sans shell and Raph was tapeing his knuckles before he started working the punching bag. Leo was in the kitchen cutting veggies and despite being in human form they all looked much as they had before. They knew themselves and their skills and they were adjusting. Tracey noticed Artemis studying the boys and glanced over each of them in turn with a smile. "I know what you're thinking my dear and you're right, they do seem to be adjusting well right now. I just worry that they'll grow to like their human bodies and forget who they really are. They're turtles for a reason and though we and they can't see that reason yet for themselves, it will show itself in due time." She said in a low whisper before standing up and stretching upward. "Well it's shower time and then time to eat!"

Artemis watched her go then turned her attention back to the boys, after a few minutes she got up and went to help Leo cook, he smiled at her and she smiled back before taking over cutting up the meat. For a few minutes she felt as if everything were normal again and she held that feeling close to her, she had the instinctive feeling something was going to go very wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day Tracey and Artemis put their heads together and tried to decide where to take the boys in the City. Artemis had a tourist map out and was crossing out different attractions. She sighed. "I dunno doll, why don't we just walk around until one of the guys sees something and gets excited?"

"You know I rather like that idea, it's spontaneous and exciting! Just like me!" Tracey answered with a smile as she looked over the attraction brochures and then pushed them away. "I think everyone will have fun walking around and looking at other things too, besides who knows what window shopping we'll get to do too."

She laughed at the thought and grabbed their satchels from Leo's room and checked to make sure their money and phones were inside before handing Artemis her bag and slinging her own across her shoulders.

"I have the perfect way to bring the boys in a hurry, watch this." She smirked and cupped her hands to mouth. "Anyone who wants a topside adventure better hurry up and prepare to leave now, first one here picks lunch for everyone and we're buying!"

Stepping back until her back was against the wall, Tracey pulled Artemis back by the arm gently so she wouldn't get knocked down as the boys came running. Mikey and Donnie came racing out tripping each other up and trying to keep the other from winning. Neither of them noticed Leo and Raph dropping down from the pipes overhead. Leo landed right in front of Tracey beating the other three by seconds. Artemis shook her head and surveyed the boys who all wore a hodgepodge collection of cloths Casey had brought with him. Donnie's glasses kept slipping off his face, what had been too small on his turtle face were now too big on his human face and Artemis smiled gently as she moved to him and used a loop of elastic to keep them attached to his head.

"Way to go guys, what a way to hustle." Tracey said with a smile, pushing herself up from the wall and checking the strap of her satchel. "It was a close call but Leo won and so he'll choose where we all go for lunch and hm, we might have to rethink the clothes a little."

She had to smile and then tapped her finger to her lips before surveying Mikey and Leo, trying to figure out the best look for them. "Jeans and shirts are always comfy and are for all occasions... what do you think Arty?"

Artemis glanced at them and shrugged. "They're all wearing pants, shirts and shoes. And they look better than half the kids I've seen walking around up there." She smiled at Raph who was wearing sweats, sneakers and a wife beater had a hoodie in one hand and she snagged it. "No hoodies, You'll get the cops staring at you if you look like a thug. She took Mikey's hat and turned it around so the bill was facing front.

"Much better, oh this is going to be so much fun." Tracey said with a nod and then looked passed them all to see Master Splinter standing there. "Don't worry Master Splinter, we'll all take care of each other and watch our backs... I promise."

He nodded and watched them head out of the lair in the care of two women he'd come to think of as daughters. When Artemis had checked the alley they were exiting from she helped them all up to the surface and they headed out onto the crowded street. Artemis and Tracey had arranged between themselves that if they got separated she would mind Raph and Donnie if Tracey would keep an eye on Leo and Mikey, she looked around and smiled. "We came up in Central Park. Perfect, we can walk by the Zoo to start."

"Oh this will be perfect! The Central Park is suppose to have a white Siberian Tiger in their exhibit and even at home I haven't been able to see her either... Oh lets go, lets go, lets go!" Tracey exclaimed, looping her arms around Leo's and Mikey's arms and stepped out, bringing them with her.

Without even waiting for the others to follow her, Tracey gently tugged them forward and Mikey's enthusiasm soon grew to match hers. The walked together in a large group and looked at each of the animals and Tracey suddenly started to laugh and tenderly nudged Leo in the side, pointing to the tortoises in the enclosure in front of them.

"Hey Raph, isn't that one a friend of yours?" She asked, smirking knowingly at him. "Hopefully this isn't an awkward reunion for you. You can't deny what happened in Brazil, Artemis and I know all about it."

Raph flushed and Artemis nudged him. "Smile Raph, it was a joke." She turned to look at the animals housed in the Zoo and Raph tried not to blush harder when her hand stayed on his arm, he awkwardly looped an arm around her shoulders while they walked and she smiled up at him before turning her gaze to Donnie who had his nose stuck in the leaflet they docent had given them all. "Donnie, the animals are right in front of you…" She said with a slight laugh.

He looked up at her then have a nervous laugh and stuffed the pamphlet in a pocket and started watching a brightly colored bird in the aviary. "It's almost unreal how bright their plumage is." He remarked.

Tracey looked to see what Donnie was looking at and then smiled and nodded in agreement.

"They sure are..." Tracey agreed, taking a step forward to get a closer look.

All of a sudden there was a great aerial cry from behind them and they, including a group of other people around them, turned to see what was going down. A dark object passed over the sun and it's shadow passed over the crowd of onlookers and then fell like a bolt of lightning with another great cry. Everyone moved out of the way, but Tracey didn't even flinch and held out her arm, not really knowing what to expect or what else to do. Rhythmic bursts of air blow into her face and Tracey was forced to close her eyes as dust flew around her. A hefty weight landed on her arm and made her freeze all together, the thing shifted on its talons and soft feathers brushed over the flesh of her arm. Tracey opened her eyes to see the bird that had alighted to her arm without a leather guard, was a beautiful male golden eagle.  
"Well hello there handsome." Tracey whispered gazing into the bird's brown eyes, her own turning gold from a few split seconds before returning to their blue color. "You're a real looker."

She gently began to stroke his crown feathers with her fingers and trailed her affections to his chest until he fluffed himself up and flapped his wings. "That's not cool, birdy, come back here." Cried a young staff member, jogging up the path from an arena further up the path where the staff were talking about the different birds in the zoo and some other interesting facts about them. "Miss please stay calm and I'll take him back now."

Tracey blinked a little owlishly at the staff member and then tilted her head to the side and looked back too the golden eagle again. "Pharaoh, most regal and majestic of all the birds on earth, he is right." Tracey said softly, holding her arm out to the zoo staff member and the bird stepped off. "You must stay here."

"How did you know his name?" The staff member asked.

"A beautiful eagle like him should be called nothing else other than king so Pharaoh seemed like the best name for him." She replied with a smile. "And it doesn't hurt that he told me... it's an animal thing."

The boys gaped at the massive bird watching it placidly accept being handed off to the staff member. The staff member gave them all a chance to interact with the beautiful creature before they took him back to the arena, Artemis checked her phone. "It's almost lunch time. Leo where do you want to eat?"  
Leo considered it. "The Hard Rock Cafe." He replied.

"You got it." Artemis replied and led them out of the zoo and hailed a cab. When they arrived Artemis got everyones order and told them to find a table while she placed the order at the front. "No reason for all of us to stand in line. I'll text when I have the food." She said.

"I couldn't agree with you more, come on guys, I saw a table over by the window." Tracey said, directing their attention to the table in which she spied and moved to.

"The food here is good. What are you guys enjoying most about today so far and what are you hoping to see?" She took a seat and pulled herself up to the table, keeping her phone handy for Artemis's text so she could get up and help her bring the food over.

"I'd love to see one of the museums." Donnie said and Mikey groaned.

"Aww come on, can't we see some of the music stores? They're never open at night." He asked.

Leo shrugged. "I don't mind either one but I would like to check out some of the book stores." He looked at Raph. "What about you?"

"I'm up for whatever." He replied and shrugged.

Tracey's phone went off and she saw Artemis text. "Foods up, need help."

"I promise we'll get to see everything you guys want to see today... oh I'll be right back." She said with a smile and then slipped down from her seat. "The food it ready, prepare your appetites for the ride of their lives."

With a smile, Tracey vanished in the crowd and she left the boys to talk amongst themselves while she went to help Artemis pick up food. She was handed a tray by Artemis and together they returned to the table as Tracey relayed what the boys were thinking about doing next. Upon arriving at the table again, she set down her tray and gave Mikey and Leo the food that they ordered before returning to her seat and placing her own food in front of her. "Time to dig in, enjoy guys."

Artemis picked at her salad watching the boys hungrily tuck into their burgers making very happy noises at the flavors. "Oh my god… it's like heaven on a bun." Mikey said happily.

Raph was too busy getting his mouth around a triple decker burger while Donnie worked his way through a huge plate of chili fries. Leo looked at Tracey eating a plate of cheeseburger sliders that literally oozed cheese. He'd gotten a salad like Artemis and was halfway through it before he noticed that Artemis was barely eating. "You ok?"

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. "I'm not really hungry."

Licking cheese from her lips and using her napkin to take care of the remainder, Tracey looked at her friend and tilted her head to the side and studied her quietly, she'd make sure they'd talk later. Tracey finished her sliders and took steady sips of her drink, laughing a little at Mikey while he consumed his burger.

"I'm glad you all are enjoying your food. It looks like there's a music and bookstore up the road, it's a two in one so we can hit those up and then the museum is about two block over from there." Tracey stated, taking into consideration everything the boys wanted to do. "Perhaps on the way home, we'll treat you to a dessert."  
Mikey grinned and finished the rest of his french fries. "Awesome! I wonder if I can find the new…." He trailed off when a pretty girl walked by and smiled flirtatiously at him. He grinned back and waved and she giggled as she reached a group of her friends.

"She actually waved at me." He said stunned.

"Only because she thought you were special ed." Raph retorted and nudged Mikey who pushed him back.

"Nuh uh… I look fiiine." He drawled and twisted his cap around so the bill hung over his neck.

"Yeah, an overdue book fine." Donnie replied with a snort.

Mikey ignored him and leaned back in his chair watching the group of girls. Tracey smiled and patted Mikey on the shoulder. She didn't quiet know how she felt about this situation, but she knew that it would be a boost to Mikey's self confidence and that's what he needed. "Yes Mikey you do look good and remember that you need to be yourself, if your girl can't accept you and all your goofiness as a part of you then they don't know what they're missing out on." Tracey said with a smile before looking between Donnie and Raph. "As for you two, it wouldn't hurt to cut Mikey some slack. He's at least in tune with his inner most self, you could learn from him."

"We did cut Mikey slack." Raph replied finishing off his burger. "This is not even the worst we tease."

Artemis picked up her tray with its mostly uneaten salad. "I'll be back in a minute." She said and headed for a trashcan.

Leo watched her go and looked a little worried. "She looks pale… paler… is she ok?"

Raph watched her too. "She seemed ok when we came in here, Maybe she's just tired?"

"No I don't think that's it." Tracey concluded as she watched Artemis head for the bathroom and then she too had the urge to use the facilities. "I'm going to go check on her... and..."

She couldn't finish her sentence before she ran to the bathroom, dodging around people and vanished behind the closed door labeled 'Women'. She ran to a stall after calling for Artemis and found her. Without having a moment to spare, Tracey ran to the nearest open stall and heaved all the contents in her stomach into the bowl. She coughed and made sure everything was out before she left the stall and went to the sink to clean up. Rinsing out her mouth several times to get rid of the bile and sliders taste in her mouth, Tracey wiped her mouth clean and then washed her hands.

"Artemis are you okay? I don't feel so good..." Tracey started, closing her eyes tightly to stop her world from spinning. "Is your world spinning too?"

Artemis came out of the stall her face milk white, she rinsed her mouth and took a few deep breaths. "No more so than normal." She said and ran cool water over her wrists. She turned on Tracey's tap and put her wrists under the cold flow of water, the effect was immediate, Tracey's head stopped spinning and she started to feel a little more normal.

"I don't know why that works but it does." Artemis said softly.

Tracey let out a relieved sigh and closed her eyes as the water streamed over her wrists and hands and then looked at their reflection in the mirror. She now looked slightly paler than she had been when she got up that morning, but she didn't know why. And why had she hurled her food? It was good and she had always like the Hard Rock's food, so what was responsible for them to suddenly become sick? Tracey shook her head and turned off the water now that her dizzy spell had lapsed.

"Do you think this is a sign that our job here is almost up? Or is something else happening to us?" She asked before splashing a little cool water on her face and patting her skin dry with a paper towel. "Because if it is I'd rather get a verbal warning... I don't care for the pain and the waste of food."

Artemis smoothed her hair back out of her face and shrugged. "I haven't got a clue but let's not leave the boys out there by themselves. And let's keep this to ourselves ok?"

"Agreed, we don't need them worrying about us too much." Tracey said with one last cough. "We can't let our men be picked up by strange girls and all."

With a smirk, Tracey gave herself a final look over, liked what she saw, and made sure Artemis was alright too before she held open the door for her and then proceeded to walk with her back to their table to see that the boys had finished their food. Leo stood up when he saw them. "Are you guys ok?"

Artemis smiled. "Yeah, I was just feeling a little tired, I guess I didn't get enough sleep. Tracey just came to check on me."

Leo and Raph exchanged a look but Raph shrugged. Mikey was leaning in his chair talking to a girl behind him but Donnie pushed a pair of to go cups forward. "Guess it's a good thing we asked the waitress for more coke to go for you then."

Artemis smiled and took the drink. "Aww thanks Guys."

Tracey smiled at them reassuringly and put her hands on the back of Leo's chair and picked up the second to-go cups and took a sip from the straw. "Yeah we're alright." She said with a smile. "Are you guys ready to go? The music store and bookstore await us."

As it turned out the Bookstore and the music store were owned by the same company and that company had linked both stores through a central door. Artemis took Raph and Leo to the bookstore side while Tracey took Mikey and Donnie to the music side. Artemis found a chair in a central location so she could watch the boys without having to trail both guys as they picked their sections and started perusing the books. She smiled seeing Leo head for the Manga and Raph went for the sports section. She winced as a spike of pain pierced her temples and tried not to visibly sway in her seat. The pain abated and she took a shaky breath, something was wrong but she would be damned if she let it ruin the guys day. She relaxed a little and kept an eye on Raph and Leo who looked for all the world like two 18 year olds just out for a few books, she glanced over at Tracey on the other side of the store with Mikey and Donnie who were both enjoying both the music and the electronic equipment. Mikey was having an animated conversation with one of the techs while Donnie flipped through a display of CD's.

Tracey giggled quietly behind her hand while she listened to their intense debate about music that would mix the best before she turned back to the CDs in front of her and pulled up one of her favorite artists and smiled. She brought it to Mikey and started to converse with him about using it win some techno mixes and voiced her wish to hear what he could do with it when they got back home. "I'm going to purchase Lindsey Stirling's CD and then you can use it! I'll be right back." Tracey said with a smile.

As she walked to the checkout counter, she stumbled a little bit before she caught herself before she knocked over a stand of CDs. Tracey could feel the heat rise in her cheeks out of embarrassment before she let out a giggle and stepped up to the lady at the register. She pulled out her wallet and handed her the money, accepting the bag with the CD in it and stashing it in her satchel. "Did you find anything you liked Donnie?"

He shrugged. "Nothing I can't get online at home." He replied and turned to look at Mikey who had produced a notepad from somewhere and was taking notes while the tech waxed poetic about turntables.

He walked over and joined the conversation while Tracey kept an eye on them, her stomach twisted a little but it was tolerable, the sudden spike of pain in her temples was less so but it left almost as quickly as it had come leaving her feeling a little disoriented. Letting out a low and staggered breath, Tracey put a hand out to her side to steady herself, but wasn't quite as sneaky about it as Artemis was. She took a deep breath and winced again before sitting on the floor and waited for her dizzy spell to go away.

"What a pain in the ass." She muttered, gritting her teeth against the annoyance of pain. "Come on Tracey, get it together... don't you dare ruin this for the boys. Suck it up right now."

"Ma'am, are you alright?" One of the Handy Dandy Helper People, as Artemis liked to call them, bent down to help her.

"Yeah, I'm having a dizzy spell and it'll pass soon." Tracey replied, giving him a smile. "I just need to sit for a moment, but thank you for your concern." She gave him a small wave and sent him on his way. Taking another minute or two to compose herself, Tracey stood and went to go warm the bench with Artemis while still keeping watch on Mikey and Donnie. "You feeling ill?"

"Just a little headache." Artemis replied pressing the pressure point between her thumb and index finger. "I think we should head to the museum soon."

"Agreed, it looks like the boys will be wrapping it up soon." Tracey said quietly. "Come on guys, time to make final selections so we can check out the museum next."

She smiled and stood, preparing herself to leave. Waving to Raph and Leo, Tracey brought them together and paid for their selected items and put them in her bag so they wouldn't be bothered with them. Artemis went and got Donnie and Mikey herding them out to the sidewalk and they headed for the museum. About halfway there

Artemis saw a craft store and had a devilish idea. She told the others to go on ahead to the museum, she'd catch up and she ducked into the store leaving Tracey with the four brothers who all looked puzzled. "Come on guys, Arty will join us in a few minutes, let's leave her be and keep going... besides in there the store has cameras and no one should try anything when there are cameras and plenty of witnesses so she'll be fine." Tracey said, looping her arms with Leo and Mikey. "I don't know what she's planning but it's always funny." With a smile and some effort, she was able to refocus their attention on the sights around them.  
Tracey and the brothers were looking at a display of cellphones and Donnie was chattering animatedly about the progression of the technology when Artemis caught up with them her satchel lumpy. She smiled and looked at the display of phones. "Hey Tracey… I think that's your old phone."

Looking to where Artemis was pointing, she saw a display of flip phones. She turned back to Arty and raised an eyebrow at her and stuck out her tongue. "Never going to let me live that down are you?" She laughed and shook her head when Mikey gave her a quizzical look and explained. "I had an old flip phone since I was in high school and when I finally upgraded to the phone I have in my world, it was only because Artemis was moving to Alaska, which she's forbidden to do ever again, and I needed it to take electronic transactions."

"You're forbidden to go to Alaska again?" Mikey asked looking stunned. "What'd you do there?"

Raph facepalmed and Artemis laughed. "She didn't do anything nitwit, Tracey is saying Artemis isn't allowed to move away from her home town ever again because she'd miss her too much."

"Oh." Mikey looked a little crestfallen that Artemis hadn't done anything super cool or villainous to deserve banishment from an entire state.

Artemis patted him on the shoulder. "Someday I'll tell you how I got the cops called on me for pranking a telemarketer."

He brightened and Artemis motioned for them to keep moving through the exhibits. Hanging back a little, Tracey fell into step with Artemis and pointed to her satchel. "What did you get Arty?"

Artemis lowered her voice. "Raph likes to knit but he doesn't like his brothers to know, I picked up some new yarn and some knitting needles and I signed him up for a monthly package to be delivered to the corner they get their pizza at so he can get new yarns every month for a year."

Tracey's eyes opened a little wider and she giggled. "You know, I wouldn't have guessed that he did that some of craft, but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised." She started as she looked over at Raph. "I hope he tells his brothers about his hobby soon, if they hear it from him then he'll be less embarrassed and we won't accidentally let something slip."

Artemis shrugged and patted the satchel. "It's not our secret to tell and if he wants them to know they'll know."

"You're right about that." Tracey said in agreement. "Anyways, let's keep this party moving forward, I'd like to get back to the Lair and sniff around that ghost file a little and since we have a few safe house locations we should probably try to hit those up, find Stockman and bring him to justice." She kept her voice low and smiled at Leo when he looked back at them, a little wave was included to make it believable that everything was okay. Tracey had to giggle quietly to herself as Mikey darted from exhibit to glass case, trying to look at everything all at once. He did remind her a lot of herself when she was in the various craft stores she and Artemis frequented for supplies and crafts for their business.

"I'm going to miss them when this is over Arty, they bring such excitement to our lives." She said, smiling at Mikey when he waved at them.

Artemis smiled and looped an arm around her friend's shoulders. "I'm going to miss them too."

They made a circuit of the main floor of the museum before Artemis called an end to their outing, it would be dark out soon and she wanted them all back underground before dark. When they got back Master Splinter gave a sigh of relief and smiled. "It is good to see you again. Did you have a pleasant day?"

Dropping herself onto the couch and letting out a tired breath of air, Tracey smiled and spoke. "It was great, everyone got a chance to experience the world above and sample the foods above ground." She said with a smile before leaning forward to rub her feet. "Ouch, I didn't think we had walked so far that my feet would be hurting this badly... Oh well, totally worth it and we're all back safe and sound."

Artemis smiled and motioned for Raph to follow her. When she was sure they were alone she handed him the bag from the craft store. "You'll be getting a box once a month on the 3rd at the corner you guys have your pizzas delivered to. It's only for a year but you'll get new yarns, patterns and tools."  
He fingered the yarn and smiled before pulling her into a hug. "Thanks Art. For the yarn and keeping my secret." He lifted her up until only her toes were touching the floor.

"No problem. You'll have to tell your brothers eventually though; they're going to wonder about the monthly boxes." She smiled and patted his shoulder.

"I'll get around to it." He let her down but kept his arm around her waist, she felt good in his arms and he found himself leaning down towards her.

She pressed a hand to his chest stopping him. "Raph, you don't want to go down this path, we don't know when we'll have to leave, it could be next week or it could be tomorrow but walking down this path will hurt."

He stopped for a second and considered it before shrugging. "I'm no stranger to pain Art, and I'll never get the chance to kiss anyone like you again."

Artemis laughed. "You smooth talking devil."

He grinned and leaned in pressing his lips to hers his hand cupping the back of her head while he explored her mouth with his. When he pulled back he let out a soft whistle. "You're spicier than Mikeys favorite hot sauce."

He let her go and grinned at the faint blush on her face. She lifted her chin and smirked. "Not so bad yoursel…" She trailed off and pressed a hand to her forehead swaying.

Raph grabbed her before she fell over. "Whoa… I didn't think I was that good at kissing." He joked half heartedly.

Artemis started to reply when they heard a thump and Mikey yelling. "Tracey! Are you ok?"

Artemis tried to turn towards the living room but the world spun and she sagged in his arms. "Shit Art!"

He picked her up and carried her to the living room where Tracey was sitting against the couch face pale and sweaty. She doubled over in pain as her innards started to squirm again like they had at the Hard Rock Cafe that afternoon. A low groan escaped Tracey's lips and she began to shiver even more. Never in her life did Tracey ever experience such pain, not even when they were getting their transforming under control or when her previous relationships had gone horribly wrong and left her emotionally scarred for a long time.

"Arty I don't feel so good and I really did try to hold it back." She groaned, her hair falling into her face. "Oh! It hurts! What can we do to make it stop?!" Moisture started to dampen her shirt as she put a hand to her forehead to stop her head from splitting in two.

Artemis was pressing the pressure point between thumb and forefinger and trying to breath through the pain. "Donnie… I need you to take a blood sample and check it… Are we mutating more?"

Donnie grabbed a lancet from his lab and pricked her finger before running into his lab with the sample. Master Splinter gave instructions to Leo and Raph about the best pressure points to use and they did their best to help the girls through the pain while Donnie checked the sample. It took him about twenty minutes to run it but to

Artemis and Tracey it felt like twenty years; he came out with several sheets of paper and a look of consternation on his face. "You're not mutating more… you're actually expelling the mutagen from your bodies but since that basically has to rewrite your DNA… again… it's a painful process."

"No shit Sherlock..." Tracey tried to bite back, clenching her fist until her knuckles turned white and the prick of her finger had stopped bleeding. "Does that mean that we'll stay human without special abilities or does that mean we'll be stuck as mythical creatures?"

She didn't like not knowing what would happen and let out a sighed. "I'm sorry Donnie, I didn't mean to snap at you... Do you know how long this process could take?" She asked, gritting her teeth and hugging her sides as they ached again. "This feels worse than Red Ninja cramps."

Donnie shook his head. "I can't tell when it'll end but I think if you stay in human form you'll be fine until the mutagen works its way out of your system."  
Artemis took a deep breath and tried to focus through the pain. "Ok… no transforming then... "

Raph looked at Donnie then Master Splinter. "Is there anything we can do about the pain?

Donnie shook his head. "Not really, we can't chance any painkiller interfering with the process."

Master Splinter moved forward. "We will have to knock them unconscious. It would be barbaric to leave them conscious in this pain."

Before anyone could object he struck with ruthless efficiency at the girls temples and knocked them both out, Raph grit his teeth but Donnie took the opportunity to check their vitals and make some notes of his own. Leo shook his head. "If this could happen to them… how long do we have in human form?"

Donnie looked up from taking Traceys pulse. "I can take a blood sample and find out."


	12. Chapter 12

When Tracey came back to consciousness her body ached like she'd tried to lift weight too heavy for her but it wasn't the mind wrenching agony she'd been in before. Leo was sitting next to the bed reading another Manga.

Tracey blinked as she opened her eyes and her body twitched as she flexed her limbs, over all very grateful that she was still able to move them and now with a lot less pain than before. Slowly she rolled over and was able to tuck a spare pillow under her arm before a dull pounding started to throb in her head. Tracey pushed her hair out of her face and then studied Leo's facial features as he read his manga, it was the first time she had been able to really study his more human features without noise and distractions. "What is this manga about?" She asked quietly. "I haven't had much time to read manga since I have to work two jobs."

He glanced over at her and held the book out. "Tsubasa." He smiled a little. "How are you feeling?"

"Better but still like a herd of wild horses just dragged me through a large rock quarry." Tracey replied, nodding to the manga title. "I've heard it's a good manga series.

I'd also suggest Rurouni Kenshin and D. if you have the time." She slowly rubbed her temples to try to stop the throbbing headache that threatened to surface with a vengeance. Looking around she didn't see Artemis with her and that concerned her.

"Where is Artemis? Is she okay?"

Leo nodded and handed her a bottle of water and a bottle of tylenol. "She's already awake, she said to give you these when you wake up."

He looked around his room his finger stuck in between the pages of his Manga to keep his place. "She's had Donnie going through those files you found narrowing down places where we might find the Ooze and the information on how it was produced. She's narrowed down the list by a lot."

Tracey's fingers gently brushed over Leo's when she took the water and Tylenol from him and she let out a sigh to hide the blush. Popping the top off and breaking the seal on the water, she shook out two of the capsules into her hand and then downed them with a mouthful of water. She put the top back on and set them both on the bedside table next to her. Tracey slowly pushed the blankets from her waist and swung her legs around until she could touch the floor, which she did quiet gingerly seeing as it was a lot colder than she had formerly anticipated. "God that's cold." She said quietly, shaking and shivering a bit as she applied some weight to her tender feet and slowly falling to the side before she could catch herself. "Aw crap!" Wildly she flailed her arms, trying to catch a hold of something before she landed on her face, but the only thing she caught was Leo.

He helped her back up and kept his hands on her shoulders to be sure she'd stay upright, he was smiling and she was caught by the sparkle in his blue eyes. "Sorry, should have warned you, it took Artemis a few minutes to get herself upright."

"It's okay..." Tracey replied softly, unable to draw her attention away from his unusually blue eyes. "I should have figured my legs weren't going to hold me just yet. Ha, Artemis was always able to recover quickly, something I admire about her."

She rested her hand over his on her shoulder and noted that her other hand was resting on his chest, glad that he was letting her use him as a prop until she was able to get her balance again. She could feel his heart steadily beating beneath her hand and and she felt her fingers twitch. This was just another reason why she liked him the most and why he was such a capable leader. Leo had a strong heart and an unwavering loyalty which could be drawn upon whenever there was call for it. He allowed her and his brothers to use him as a pillar of strength and he in turn was able to use their specific abilities to bring them to victory. They may get on each others' nerves but that's what siblings did best and so long as they overcame their differences together, than they would always be close. She could relate to that, since she had three brothers of her own.

"I think I've regained some balance in my legs... thanks Leonardo." Tracey said, looking at her hand over his heart. "I think before I check on Artemis and Donnie I need a shower, cold sweats aren't comfortable."

He covered her hand with his and gave her a slightly shy smile. "She might be able to recover quickly but you do something just as important. You offer hope, the hope that things can be different. You gave me hope that we can be part of the world, no matter what we look like." He reached up and brushed a few strands of hair off her cheek before he leaned in and kissed her his lips smooth and sweet against hers.

Tracey was quiet taken aback by his sudden forwardness, but wasn't exactly overcome with surprise. Now was a good a time as any to do what she's always wanted to do, but would have been next to impossible to do until now, of course who could have foreseen Tracey and Artemis being pulled out of their normal world and subjected to a new one like this? Slowly Tracey stepped closer to Leo until she could wrap her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes to give her a little more of an advantage. His lips were unbelievably soft and she pleasantly relieved to see that he wasn't only well skilled with the katanas but also pretty smooth with his kisses too.

After a moment, Tracey slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Leo, a slight smirk spreading over her lips. "I hope you know I would have done this even if you were a turtle, it matters not what's on the outside." She stated quietly, resting her hand over his heart again. "But what's on the inside... and you have it in spades."

He smiled but turned when someone knocked on the door, Artemis opened it and walked in before Leo and Tracey had a chance to disentangle themselves, she stopped and raised an eyebrow but smiled and backed out of the room without saying a word. Leo blushed and cleared his throat. "I guess she needs to talk to you."

Tracey giggled under her breath and rested her hand against his cheek for a moment before giving him a quick kiss on the lips again and then going to the bedroom door. Quietly she pulled the door open and stepped out to meet with Artemis, who was leaning against the wall.

"Okay, we were having a moment..." Tracey said softly, a smirk on her lips. "But now you have my attention, though I was going to come and find you after I took a shower... shivering and cold sweats and nasty and they suck."

Artemis grinned. "Hey… if I knew you were having a moment I'd have left you alone. And yes they suck." She motioned to the bathroom. "Go get a shower, I'll be in the kitchen."

"Alright I'll find you there in about fifteen minutes." Tracey replied, turning around and stepping back into Leo's bedroom to retrieve a fresh set of clothes.

She gave Leo a wink and then shut the door again, making her way to the bathroom and making sure that it was empty before stripping down to her skivvies and turned the water on hot. The water rushed over her and eased her sore muscles. Its cleansing steam opened her pores and with a quick lather and soapy suds, Tracey was clean and refreshed. She turned off the water, dried herself quickly and dressed, hanging her towel up just before she left the bathroom and headed for the kitchen.

"Alright Artemis." Tracey said as she shook her head and let her wet hair fall passed her shoulders. "Now please tell me what you've found out... and also what we're having for dinner because I'm starving."

Artemis flipped a pair of fried eggs into a bowl of rice with panfried veggies and handed it to her along with a fork. "Eat while explain."

She sat down across from Tracey. "So we narrowed down the safehouses. It looks like there are only three that have the necessary equipment and facilities to house and disperse the ooze. I think the boys can handle a three part strike on all three at once if we're with them."

Taking in steady forkfuls of the delicious food into her mouth, Tracey listened intently while Artemis explained everything to her and then set down her fork halfway through her food and folded her hands in front of her. She mulled over the information and tilted her head to one side before speaking. "But what about our condition? You suggested that we shouldn't change to our other forms, but what if we need them when we hit the safe houses and get stuck permanently?" She questioned before something occurred to her. "If we lose our abilities with every world we get sent to, even if we do get stuck in our mythical forms we should be able to revert to our normal selves when we arrive in the new world... right?"

Artemis leaned on the counter and sighed. "We couldn't change even if we wanted to. I had Donnie run my bloodwork when I got up. The mutagen is completely out of my system which means it's probably out of yours too. Our condition just means that we don't have that particular ace in the hole."

Tracey let out a sigh and looked a little crestfallen with the knowledge that they wouldn't be able to use their other forms to their advantages. She picked up her fork again and slowly ate her food again, watching as the morsels vanished from her bowl. The silence between them was stifling and she didn't know what else to think. She took her bowl from the table and washed it out before pushing some stray strands of her hair out of her face and then looked at Artemis again. "I guess that means that I won't be able to shock anyone now?"

It was a little bit more of a rhetorical question than anything else, but she still felt that she had lost an awesome ability, much like she did when they were dropped here in the boys' laps and she lost her elemental abilities and Artemis lost her fire powers.

Artemis reached over and put her hand on Tracey's shoulder. "Tracey hon, relying on magic, innate, gifted or otherwise is like holding a razor by the blade. You can use it but odds are the blade will slip and you'll cut yourself or drop it. You can't shock people or fly but you have your training with the Boken and that can't be taken from you."

Tracey gave her a lopsided grin and hugged her tightly. She remained that way for a few moments before she pulled back and dried her hands on a paper towel. "True... what a pain though." She said with a sigh. "I guess now we have to get the boys together and plan our next moves carefully, like who's going to be paired up with who and which of the three safe houses everyone will hit..."

"I already know which three houses and I have some ideas on teams now." She teased with a smile as she grabbed a coke and cracked it.

Tracey raised an eyebrow and smirked while shaking her head. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me any time in the near present are you?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting her weight to one side. "Regardless of the teams and houses that we get sent to, we should probably get to bed early tonight and rest as much as we can, that means no patrolling tonight."

Artemis motioned to the clock which read 2:34. "Honey it's already night… We were out most of a day." She nodded her head towards Mikey's room. "Mikey and Donnie are asleep right now, Leo is in his room and he doesn't seem to sleep much at night anyway and Raph is in his room knitting I think. Even Master Splinter is asleep."

"Then we should rest too and pair up tomorrow." Tracey sighed, looking at the clock. "I think I can convince him to at least snuggle tonight... well good night Artemis. Rest well and I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that you'll be in Raph's room, am I right?" She let out a soft snicker while stretching her arms above her head and stifling a yawn.

Artemis gave Tracey a light push. "No. I'm crashing on the couch. Raph is sweet and cute enough but…." She trailed off and looked down at her hands, Tracey couldn't help but look too and noticed one of her rings was missing, the Dragon ring she wore on her thumb.

"Did you give him one of your rings?" She asked quietly, stumbling a bit before she found her balance again. "A keepsake for him perhaps?"

Artemis rubbed the mark on her thumb where the ring used to rest. "I gave Iolaus the ring before Zeus sent us on. Not a keepsake though." She hesitated and took a steadying breath. "I love him Tracey, not as a fling or a rebound. I love him the way I loved Fox. It was a promise, that I wouldn't forget him, or replace him."

"Oh I see... I'm sorry Artemis." Tracey said quietly, giving her best friend a strong hug and stepped back. "Rest now my sweet, we need to be at our best later today."

She hoped that one day Arty would find peace with her love affairs and soon, if there was one thing she didn't like it was a mopy sisterly figure hurting on the inside... it makes for a lousy traveling companion. As quietly as she could, Tracey stole away to Leo's room and upon entering the bedroom she saw him still reading his manga, but it was the next volume. Taking a deep breath and shaking her head, Tracey went to the bed and pulled back the covers to make it welcoming and inviting and then she made a bold move and plucked the manga from his hands and marked his place for him before he could even protest.  
"Come on Leo, Artemis and I think we all need rest because tomorrow we're going to the safe houses and I have a feeling it's going to be a rough day tomorrow." Tracey said, leaning in close to his seat and smiling sweetly. "At least cuddle with me until I fall asleep, then you can go back to reading manga. You should believe me when I say that a good cuddling will let you sleep easier." With a final smile, she blinked tiredly and straightened, heading for the bed and taking off her glasses to set on the night stand.

He shook his head with amusement and shucked his shirt leaving the sweatpants on before he crawled in next to her and wrapped his arms around her. He was asleep before her and while it didn't take her long to fall asleep she thoroughly enjoyed every moment before sleep claimed her.


	13. Chapter 13

Tracey woke up to her alarm going off quietly, she rolled over and looked at Leo who was laying flat on his back still asleep his sandy blond hair tousled around his face. 'God he is so hot when he sleeps.' Tracey thought, pushing herself carefully up on her elbow and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. 'If only this moment could really last forever. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end... but they don't have to right now right Tracey? We could enjoy a few more minutes before all hell breaks loose right?' She concluded her inner argument with a nod and with a sleepy sigh she settled back down, her head resting on Leo's chest, right over his heart. Using her other hand Tracey gently traced over his bare and sculpted chest and listened to his breathing, it was soothing and she felt at peace.

He shifted a little in his sleep one arm curling around her waist tugging her in close against him as he settled again. She could hear Mikey and Donnie talking… or arguing, in the hallway and she vaguely heard Master Splinter humming something in the little alcove he used to tend his bonsai trees. She didn't hear Raph or Artemis though. Groaning a little and trying to shut out the noise by squeezing her eyes closed more, Tracey finally gave up and wiggled regretfully out of her warm spot in Leo's arms. She quietly opened and shut the door behind her, her hair falling in her face and only her eyes could be seen from the depths. Stalking to Donnie and Mikey, Tracey slowly ran her hands up their arms to their shoulders and applied pressure so they would be encouraged to come down to her level and then she spoke low and deliberate.

"You two make enough noise to wake the me and the dead, and at the moment the dead are the least of your problems." She said, her gaze shifting from Mikey and then to Donnie. "What are you two arguing about anyway that it can't wait till after everyone is awake?"

Mikey looked nervous and Donnie shifted thought his hand was turning green and he wanted to wake Leo and Raph to do blood tests. I was trying to make him wait cause…" He trailed off awkwardly then finished in a rush. "Cause Raph took Artemis to bed and I thought Leo did the same and I really don't wanna piss either of them off by interrupting." It all came out in one breath and Tracey could barely understand it.

Taking a moment and slowing down the last portion of what Mikey had said with her head, Tracey slowly nodded and understood everything. She took a deep breath and patted their shoulders before releasing them, pushing her hair out of her face and then crossing her arms over her chest. Letting loose a breath of air, Tracey studied them and tilted her head to the side. "Okay, did you already run blood work on yourselves Donnie? What were the results?" She asked, scratching her head after a moment and then stretching her arms up over her head.

"Its inconclusive right now, the levels of mutagen in me and Mikey's systems seems to be holding stable but neither of us has the muscle density of Raph or Leo and I want to know if that might be a factor." Donnie said sheepishly.

A quick glance at the clock showed that it was just after 9am. Tracey looked at the clock too and groaned again, slumping over a little before sighing.  
"Okay, I'll check on Leo first and send him out to you Donnie and then I will go get Artemis and Raph. Arty needs me too much to kill me so it will be safer if I wake her." She said, turning on her heels and quietly stalking back to Leo's room.

On her way back up the hall to Leo's room Tracey realized that they would have a better advantage hitting the safe houses now that the turtles returned to their normal forms than they would if they were human. She was still slightly concerned that there might be a few repercussions with the boys' and how they would handle their change back to turtles. Slowly Tracey opened the door and peeked around the door to see Leo still in bed and then closed the bedroom door behind her. He had flipped over to his belly and tugged her pillow in against his side in his sleep, she heard Donnie and Mikey moving back towards Donnies lab while she stood contemplating Leo's sleeping form. "Leo, you really are adorable when you sleep." Tracey laughed quietly and made her way to her stuff to pull out a fresh set of clothes, not wasting a second to change while Leo still slept. "Leonardo, I'm sorry to bother your slumber, but Donnie needs to talk to you..." Gently she sat down on the edge of the bed and reached over to run her fingers through his dirty blonde hair and was quite surprised by how soft it was. Tracey nudged him softly until he started to stir from his sleep.

He grumbled and blinked up at her before a sleepy smile rippled across his face. "Donnie can wait." He mumbled and tugged her down to give her a kiss.

An exasperated mumble of protest tried to escape from Tracey as she flailed to keep her balance on the edge of the bed, but she didn't succeed, fell forward to rest against Leo's smooth chest, and was cut off by Leo's soft lips. She succumbed to his tender kisses and her stomach fluttered happily, but she knew it wouldn't last and that Leo and his brothers probably wouldn't get another chance like this to socialize with humans and experience something so precious as a kiss or a gentle caress of another person's touch. "It's important though." Tracey tried to protest, touching his cheek gently.

"If its Donnie it usually is." He replied simply and smiled sitting up. But so is this." He kissed her again before he stood up and reached for the shirt he'd dropped on the desk chair.

Tracey smiled and shook her head before rummaging in her bag for her brush and hair ties. Upon finding them she ran the brush through her hair to smooth it out and them pulled it back before tying it up, a few stray strands of her hair fell out of her ponytail and framed her face nicely. With a smile she put her stuff away and made up the bed really fast before she patted Leo's arm and stepped out of the room, heading for Raph's dwelling and knocked on the door softly, giving the occupants a few minutes to prepare themselves. "Come on Raph, I need you guys up... Artemis, I know you're in there too." Tracey breathed. "I didn't think Raph would let you be as stubborn as him and sleep on the couch. Wake up you two."

Raph opened the door his torso bare with the tattoo on his bicep standing out sharply on his human skin. His brown hair was a tangled mess and he gave her a wary look from hazel eyes. "What's up, other than you I mean?"

Tracey gave him a cheeky grin and poked him gently in the chest. "Donnie needs to run some blood work because he thinks that you and your brothers might be changing back to your turtle forms soon." She replied. "Also it would be good to get Arty up so we can hit the safe houses today so everything can get resolved. So get that tight butt of yours in there and be delicate when you wake her, we don't need her sitting on you again."

Tracey resisted the urge to smack him on the ass when he turned to go back into the room and left for the kitchen to get breakfast and tea started, several thoughts and scenarios flying through her head at the same time as to how the day could go for them.

He closed the door quietly and shook his head. "That woman is nuts." He mumbled and flopped back down on the bed next to Artemis who was actually awake.

She smiled slightly. "She is but it's charming in its own way." She was laying on her side in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top that hugged every curve and he grinned reaching over to run a hand over the curve of her waist and hip.

"Charming huh? And what does that make you?"

She leaned up on her elbow and reached up to pull his head down until they were within kissing distance of each other. "Older, more experienced and dangerous."

He grinned fiercely and rolled her onto her back leaning over her. "I like a woman who can be a dangerous as I am."

She smirked up at him and pressed a finger to his lips the look in her eyes a little sad, he licked the tip of her finger and leaned up a little giving her more space. "Hey, I ain't looking for declarations of love or nothing. Hell I ain't even asking for sex, but it's nice to kiss and cuddle." He ran a hand through her hair. "You're all soft curves and hard edges and I like that, hell I even like that you've got some sort of heartbreak you won't share. Mystery is sexy. Just don't push me away because of it ok?"

She smiled and reached up pulling him down for a kiss that seemed to last for hours but then she was rolling out from under him and looking for her clothes. "Come on you, we're holding up Donnie and whatever it is he's found."

He snorted and found a shirt tugging it on while she dressed. He held the door open for her while she walked out finger combing her hair. She made a beeline for her coke on the kitchen counter cracking one open and taking a long grateful drink. "Oooh thats the stuff."

"Nice of you to join us Sleeping Beauty, I hope you slept well." Tracey said with a knowing smirk. "Now that you've had a little bit of caffeine, perhaps you'll tell us who's going with who and to which safe houses we'll be visiting. Hopefully Donnie will finish with his business too and everything else will go smoothly... but knowing our luck we can only hope."

Turning from the stove, Tracey set down a large plate of bacon, eggs, french toast and fruit on the table before she added cups and tea pot to the table too. She place plates and eating utensils beside each plate before calling the boys together so they could eat. Artemis smiled and leaned on the counter. "I don't have the addresses on hand right this second, they're in Donnies lab. As to the pairings I'm still waffling about those. Any suggestions?"

Tracey sat down and started to spoon herself some fruit into a bowl and chew thoughtfully while thinking on it. After a few minutes she answered with another smirk. "I had been giving some thought and I think the teams should be Donnie and Mikey, you and Raph, and Leo and myself. As far as I can see there are only good things that can come from these pairings and we can each keep an eye on everyone's' back." She said with a laugh and chewed a piece of fruit for a minute.

"I know what you're thinking so you don't need to say it. But on the other hand, having Donnie and Mikey paired together will allow Donnie to keep an eye on Mikey... how would you have them paired?"

Artemis grinned. "I was thinking of the same pairings." She looked around when the boys joined them.

Donnie was reading over a handful of papers while Leo and Raph bickered good naturedly about something. When Mikey plunked himself down next to Artemis Raph lifted him bodily up and deposited him in a different seat and sat down next to Artemis and snagged her coke going to take a drink and getting an elbow in the ribs from her. "Get your own big guy." She commented and handed him one before turning to Donnie. "So what's the word?"

Mikey started bouncing up and down. "Oh oh oh oh! I know! Bird!"

Tracey looked at Mikey and couldn't help but laugh and pat his arm. "That's not what she meant Mikey my sweet, but nice try." Tracey said with a smile. "We need to know what Donnie's findings are with the blood work that he took from you guys this morning... if you guys are going to become turtles again then we should wait to hit the safe houses because by then you'll have an even better advantage. But if there's no risk of you reverting back today than we should hit the safe houses and bring Stockman to justice." She passed him the plate of french toast and syrup and let him serve himself.

Donnie dropped the pages and sighed. "It's all inconclusive. The levels of mutagen are consistent but they vary, much like the levels of various hormones and chemicals in our blood work. We can't afford to wait for the mutagen to work it's way out of our systems, the info Tracy managed to get for us is almost a week old, and who knows how frequently they move the safehouses."

Tracey sighed and then rested her arm on the table and then her chin on her fist. "Then perhaps we should head for the safe houses after breakfast and hit them them hard. My only concern right now is if you guys do change back in the middle of a fight and then become incapacitated to fight, then things could go sore for us in a hurry."

"Donnie, were you able to pull up the schematics of the safehouses?" Artemis asked.

Donnie nodded. "Yeah."

"Good, we'll go over those before we leave. We can't do anything about you guys possibly changing in the middle of a fight, there's no knowing when that might happen if ever. But what we can do is finish this mission and worry about the rest later." Artemis replied calmly.

"I guess we'll handle this when it happens." Tracey shrugged her shoulders and nodded in agreement. She looked to each of the boys before making her next statement.

"Artemis and I have talked about it and we think the teams should be as follows: Donnie and Mikey, Raph and Arty, and Leo and myself. Not for any other reason other than you each compliment the others' skills to a tee." She said, folding her hands in front of her.

Mikey and Donnie looked at each other and shrugged. "I guess so."

Leo and Raph seemed content with the pairings and Donnie got up to get the schematics. When he came back Leo moved the plates out of the way so Donnie could explain the layouts of each of the safehouses. After looking around at each of the boys and studying them closely as if it would be the last time she would see them, she then sighed and refocused on the task at hand. Tracey looked down at the maps and noted the three locations on the map that they would have to hit simultaneously. "We need to be very careful when we do this and no matter what happens we have to stay the course." She said quietly.

Artemis tapped the schematics. "Donnie and Mikey, you're hitting this safehouse. Tracey and Leo will hit this one." She motioned at the second schematic. "Raph and I will hit the third one. We'll go in at the same time for all three, if we haven't finished in 15 minutes we need to bail out and reassess."

Leo looked at her levelly. "And what happens if things go wrong?"

Artemis gave him a calm look. "We improvise. Tracey is a Master of that art, I'm no mean shake at it either."

He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's really risky, we can't back each other up."

"And they can't back each other up either if we strike all three at once." Artemis replied.

Tracey tapped her chin and laid a hand on Leo's arm. "I know it's not our most favorable plan of attack, but that's why we're going in pairs. If we're careful then things won't go wrong. We should forsake the illusion of control, because we will never be in control of the things that are to come." Tracey coughed and rubbed her temple.

"Sorry, I think I've been hanging out with Master Splinter too long, not that that's a bad thing... we don't have much time to discuss this further, we should leave very soon.

"We leave in an hour." Artemis said. "One way or another this will be finished today."

She stood up and left to get her satchel and any tools she thought he might need; Leo watched her go with an annoyed look on his face until Raph clapped his on the back. "Sucks being bossed around don't it?" He teased.

Leo looked at his brother and frowned. "Do you feel like I boss you around like that?" He asked quietly.

"I've been telling you that you're a bossy jerk for years Leo." Raph replied.

Leo looked at Donnie and Mikey, Mikey looked uncomfortable but Donnie shrugged. "You're assertive and usually have a good plan for whatever needs doing, you just usually fail to get our input before initiating said plan. You've improved a lot since the TechnoDrone incident though."

Tracey could feel the tension rising slowly and stood up, drawing their attention to her. "I just want to point out something to you all that you yourselves probably haven't realized. You each have grown in your own way since the TechnoDrone and that's a fact." She said quietly. "If you think you can take on the responsibilities of being a leader than perhaps you each should have the title for a week and see what it's like. In the meantime we should all pack things that we could need and then prepare in whichever way we see fit."

Making her way out of the kitchen, Tracey went to Leo's room and pulled a few things together which didn't take her long and then she sat down on the edge of the bed to contemplate the several things going through her head. There were so many things that could go wrong, but now wasn't the time for that, she had to be positive and hope for the best. This always happened whenever they were about embark on a dangerous outing, even if it was when they were in Ancient Greece or when she and Artemis were going to a convention... it never failed. "We just have to be careful and watch each others' back." She said quietly, checking the strap on her satchel. "What possibly go wrong?"

"Did you just taunt the universe?" Artemis asked poking her head in the door.

"With our luck would it really matter if I did taunt the universe?" Looking up at the door, Tracey giggled and shrugged before standing and looping her satchel over her shoulder. Tracey took a deep breath and let it out softly, she was hoping that her nervous jitters would go away but no such luck.

"Are you and Raph ready to go? Does everyone have what they need? Including a first aid kit as needed?"

Artemis smiled and held up her satchel. "You have your first aid kit, I have mine and Donnie is packing his backpack with everything he and Mikey might need. We'll be ready to go in a few minutes." She handed Tracey the schematic with the address written across the top. "I've already given Donnie the address for the one he and Mikey are hitting."

"Good, I think they'll be fine. Out of all of us I think Donnie and Mikey will have the most fun." Tracey laughed and took the schematics to look them over, figuring that the best way for her and Leo to get in would be for them to go to the roof and try the vent shafts. They led through the entire building and passed a lot of their obstacles, including security. With a little laugh, she folded up the paper and put it in her satchel.

"Let's hope that we don't have to use the first aid kits... I guess all we can do now is get a move on and hope for the best..." She said with a lopsided grin. "Let's go get the boys and get a move on Artemis. With a bit of luck we should be able to destroy the purple ooze forever."

Artemis gave her an incredulous grin. "I've been waiting on you!" She laughed and walked out ahead of Tracey, the boys were waiting for them in the living room each with a backpack.


	14. Chapter 14

By the time Tracey and Leo got to the safehouse Tracey's stomach was a roiling mess of nerves. She and Leo were entering through a basement sewer access. It took them about twenty minutes to make their way through the safe house only to discover that it had been abandoned. Artemis and Raph came to a similar conclusion in their safehouse and Artemis texted Tracey after the 15 minute mark. "Empty safehouse. You?"

Tracey looked around and made sure they were well hidden in the safe house before she pulled out her phone and high-lighted Artemis's name and clicked. "Empty here too, we should head over to Donnie and Mikey's location and see if they need help. Text me the address."

The address popped up on her screen a minute later. "Don't go in til we get there." The next text message read.

When she and Leo got to the safehouse Artemis was arguing in a low voice with Raph who looked like he was about ready to just walk past her into the safehouse. Tracey giggled softly and shook her head at their argument before crouching low and tapping Raph on the shoulder, making him jump a little. "You really should wait for us Raph, the more people watching your tight little ass the better." She laughed with another shake of her head. "Are you ready to go in? How far in did Donnie and Mikey get?"

"We don't know. They haven't responded to the texts and we've been here for about five minutes and they've probably been in there for about twenty-five so I'm getting worried." Artemis replied looking a little worried. "We can get in through a basement window Raph broke when we got here."

Tracey's facial features turned to concern and she checked her phone and found that she didn't have any messages from Donnie either. She knew they could handle themselves, but she was still starting to get worried. The last time they were paired off, Raph and Mikey got caught by the police and Casey and April got arrested after they escaped. Now it could be a little different, but she'd feel better if they found Donnie and Mikey alright.

"Alright, let's go then." Tracey said, making sure the coast was clear and slipping quietly through the window. "Leo if you'd be so kind as to lead the way. Artemis and I will cover our 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and Raph can cover our 6... or Artemis's 6." She smirked a little at the last part as Leo led them through the halls.

"Of all the times to have a digital watch." Artemis quipped as she checked around a corner.

Once they left the basement the halls were crawling with foot clan soldiers. It took every scrap of training Leo and Raph had to take them down one at a time without alerting the rest of the safehouse. They eventually made their way to the central room and Artemis peered around the corner. "Donnie and Mikey are across the room against the wall… Mikey's not moving and Donnie looks hurt too. There are probably twenty foot clan soldiers...oh shit and Kurai…"

"Mikey? They hurt Mikey and Donnie?" Tracey's asked quietly before looking passed Artemis's shoulder and seeing that both brothers leaning against the wall and were bruised. Slowly her rage started to grow and her fists clenched until her knuckles were white. She couldn't overreact now and blown their cover by reacting irrationally. Taking a deep breath, Tracey let it out slowly and looked over to Leo and Raph before suggesting an idea to them.

"That bitch will pay... perhaps a distraction is in order? I'll set off an alarm somewhere else and while I draw away some the of the Foot Clan perhaps that will leave you only a few to stay behind for you guys to take care of."

Artemis thought for a moment. "The breaker is in the basement, Tracey, go flip all the switches to off. Raph I need you to string up one of those big nets across the doorframe. Leo be ready to knock the hell out of anyone in the net."

Tracey nodded, but before she crouched low to stick to the shadows and make her way to the basement, she looked at each of them briefly and smiled. "Be careful guys."

With that said, she moved off quietly and didn't meet any resistance. This made her smile a little and hoped that her cohorts were having as much luck as she was, no one said this was going to be easy. Following some power cables to the breaker box, Tracey peeked around the corner and sighed happily that no one was there.

Apparently the Foot Clan didn't think it was important to keep guard over the source of their power here and that would be their downfall. Slashing the lock on the breaker box with her Boken sword, Tracey grabbed the master switch and forced the power to shut off and then jabbed the sword in the box to keep the Foot Clan from restarting the power again. Upon the power going out, red lights suddenly started to flash and the emergency lights turned on, but the power was out. "And that's my cue to hit the ventilation shafts and get back to the others." Tracey said softly and jumped up to the nearest vent, popping open the grate and then replacing it before anyone could see where she had vanished to. 'I hope the others are okay.'

Once the lights went out everything happened fast. Leo had strung up the net and pulled it taut as soon as the lights went out. He and Raph had their hands full holding it for a few minutes as several foot clan soldiers ran into it but after Arteis used a brick to hit each soldier in the temple knocking them out they rolled them up still wrapped in the net and pushed them into a side room. They were able to take out the foot clan soldiers that remained as they came out to investigate and that only left Kurai who was circling warily around Donnie and Mikey. Artemis motioned for Raph and Leo to wait while she stood up and walked into the room hands at her side. Kurai stopped and stared at her before laughing. "You think you can stop this? Stop the Foot Clan?"

Artemis smirked and shrugged. "I think the Foot Clan is a bunch of over confident assholes in black footie pyjamas." She paced to the side and Kurai turned to follow her.

"I mean really? You run around in the shadows making mutagens and doing what? I mean really, what was Shredders endgame huh? What, he thought he could rule New York City? Did he think the federal government was just gonna stand by and let him rule a whole city with the population of some smaller European Countries? I mean really…" She kept pacing around Kurai drawing the womans attention while she talked.

From the ventilation grate above Kurai Tracey watched her manipulating the ninja and saw Leo and Raph slinking through the shadows to get in a better position. Artemis kept talking. "Besides, Shredder isn't here. I mean I could tell you where he is but really what would be the point?"

"Where is he?!" Kurai demanded taking an angry step forward.

Artemis smirked and stepped back but Kurai kept advancing. "Why the hell would I tell you that?"

"Tell me or I will make you suffer." Kurai snarled.

"That should have been 'Tell me AND I will make you suffer. Lying is wrong." Artemis teased.

Kurai snarled wordlessly and lunged for her only to be met by the twin ninja skills of Raphael and Leonardo who beat her back while Artemis darted around them and started lifting Donnie up rousing him. Busting through the grate that kept her above the battle, Tracey stashed her sword in her sash before jumping down beside

Artemis and tended to Mikey, giving him a gentle shake and patting his cheek. "Mikey! Mikey! Please wake up!" She cried, eyes slightly watering when he didn't respond.

Tracey looked down at his bruises, bleeding lip and shallow cut above his gentle human features and rage consumed her. Knuckles cracking as she gripped the hilt of her Boken sword and slowly stood up, Tracey turned slightly to look over her shoulder at Kurai and gritted her teeth. "The bitch will die!" Tracey growled loudly, moving to attack Kurai with deadly speed.

"Tracey no!" Artemis yelled but it was too late by far.

She tried unsuccessfully to rouse Mikey and Donnie then settled for dragging Mikey, the more injured of them out into the hall so he wouldn't get hurt worse. She went back in for Donnie and tried to dodge the fighting. Kurai was a truly brilliant ninja and even against three opponents she held her own. Leo and Raph were flagging and for Tracey it was all she could do to keep up. Artemis didn't see the Foot Clan soldier until it was too late, he dragged Mikey back into the room a kunai at his throat. Leo and Raph sprang back away from Kurai dragging Tracey with them and Kurai laughed. "Family always makes you weak." She crowed.

"That's where you're wrong Kurai!" Tracey growled, struggling a little against Leo's and Raph's hold on her arms. "When you have something to fight for, like family, you are more powerful than you and any of the Foot Clan could ever know!"

She laughed again, a half mad sound and snapped her fingers. The Foot Clan soldier holding Mikey pulled him further into the room and Kurai took the kunai and pressed it under Mikey's chin. "This one was so adorable, he tried so hard to keep me busy while his brother tried to crack our computer system and yet they both failed." She pressed the tip of the knife harder into Mikey's skin and blood beaded on the blade.

Tracey heard Raph growl but he stayed where he was holding Tracey firmly while Artemis moved up and turned her back to Kurai, she began speaking softly to Leo, so low only he could hear her. She was speaking urgently and Tracey could see the intensity in her face. Kurai kept talking over Artemis mocking them all. "You're just like us now, human and vulnerable. Oh if Splinter could see how far you've fallen, you're pathetic!"

Artemis had her hand on Leo's shoulder pressing him back looking up into his face while she whispered urgently and Tracey could see that Raph was straining to hear now too. Kurai was tired of being ignored because she started to press the blade into Mikey's skin harder and a runnel of blood began to drip down the black and off the hilt onto the floor. "Now watch him die." Kurai spat and Tracey felt goosebumps break out over her skin as she heard Leo scream.

She looked over at him and watched his skin ripple turning green as he collapsed on the floor his back bowing up and up the shirt splitting and revealing his shell as pale skin ripped and fell away. She heard Raph screaming too and he dropped too as he started transforming too. Kurai stared stunned as the boys stood up in their turtle forms and charged her. "No! She screamed and tried to finish the thrust that would kill Mikey only to find herself being thrown into a wall while Raph tried to pound her head into putty.

"I told you that bitch was going to die." Tracey said through gritted teeth as she lunged at the nearest Foot Clan soldier and took him down. "And this is how you roll." Leaping forward, Tracey moved from one Foot Clan soldier to another, using all the skills she had learned from Leo to dispatch her enemies to the point they were unconscious and wouldn't bother them again. As soon as they were safe, she rushed to Mikey's side, her knees squeaking softly on the polished floor until she came to a halt beside him.

"Mikey, Mikey..." She said softly, patting his cheek again before ripping her shirt to press against his throat. "Mikey can you hear me?"

He groaned softly but beyond that he didn't stir. Leo and Raph were fighting Kurai who had managed to get away from Raph. Artemis had Donnie awake and at the computers while she spoke urgently into his ear. He was typing as fast as he could and suddenly alarms started going off. Artemis ran over to Tracey. "Get Mikey and Donnie out of here, we have 3 minutes before this place is a fiery ball of doom."

"Will do." Tracey agreed, draping Mikey's arm over her shoulders so she could heave him up and start dragging him toward the nearest exit. "Donnie I could use your help here, forget about the computers! I might be able to destroy them with a virus, but I need your help now!"

She shifted Mikey's weight across her shoulders and then looked back at Artemis. "What are you going to do?! You need to get out of here too!"

"Grabbing them." Artemis yelled pointing at Raph and Leo. "Get those two out, the computers are gonna be toast when this whole place goes up." She shoved Donnie at

Tracey then headed towards Raph and Leo.

Donnie helped Tracey get Mikey up between them and they ran for the door. Tracey noticed that Donnies skin had a definite green hue and Mike was starting to take on a green cast as well. Tracey was nearly out of breath as she and Donnie finally busted through the main door to the safe house and headed for the nearest man hole cover. She tended to Mikey as Donnie pulled the cover off and dropped down into the sewers first, allowing Tracey to gently lower Mikey in behind him before standing up to see where Artemis and the boys were. "Come on guys! Thirty seconds and this place gets lit up like a Christmas tree!" She hollered, crouching down into the sewers when she saw them coming through the entrance of the alley. "Let's get moving Donnie, Artemis, Leo and Raph are right behind us!"

Pushing him deeper into the sewer tunnel, she threw Mikey's arm over her shoulder again and moved just in time for the others to drop down into the tunnel beside them. She and Donnie fell to their knees as an explosion rocked the ground and car alarms started going off all along the street. Tracey could hear bricks hitting the pavement overhead while She and Donnie tried to get Mikey back up. They'd made it to an intersection in the sewer when Artemis, Raph and Leo staggered out coughing. "Thank the Gods you're alright." Tracey coughed, uncovering Mikey with her body, which she had used to shield him from falling rocks and dusted her clothes and hair free of dust and bits of debris. "Let's go home and tend to Mikey and you too Donnie... Master Splinter will be so relieved that we're all coming back and is worried sick every minute that we're not home." With a final cough, Tracey looked to the ceiling of the sewer tunnel and then picked up Mikey again. Donnie helped her and she looked to find everyone completely changed back to their turtle forms. Everything was as it should be... for the most part.

When they got back to the Lair Artemis had them lay Mikey down so she could examine him, Splinter stood by looking anxious and concerned while she examined him, Leo, Raph and Donnie all collapsed exhausted to various seats the strain of the transformation taking its toll. Artemis sat back on the floor and sighed in relief. "He'll be fine, the strain of changing form is all that's keeping him out. He'll be up again after some sleep." Her voice was rough from smoke.

Tracey sighed warily and smile, grateful that it was all over and everything was back to normal. She patted Leo, Raph, and Donnie on the arms while she passed them and headed for the kitchen. Grabbing a rag and a damp cloth, Tracey came back and cleaned up Mikey's face and then nodded at her work. "Showers and sleep for everyone is an order." She said softly as she laid a gentle hand on Master Splinter's shoulder. "It's over now.

By the time everyone else was showered Mikey had started to come around, Artemis gave him one last once over and then told him to go back to sleep. She got a shower for herself and started to head to Leo's room to crawl in with Tracey when Raph dragged her to his bed. She was exhausted and didn't argue. Master Splinter was the last to go to bed and it was with a prayer in his heart that his sons never be in such danger again.


	15. Epilogue

**Authors Note: I just want to thank everyone who has been reading this story, I am really amazed how many of you there are and I hope you will keep following the adventures of Artemis and Tracey in our next Foot Falls Story: Foot Falls, Midwinter Nights Dream, this one will be over in the Hobbit section of the FanFiction World.**

When Tracey woke the next morning it was to the somber sight of Leonardo sitting beside the bed reading Manga again in his original form. He looked up and smiled. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep but I didn't want to wake you."

Smiling sleepily at him, Tracey rubbed sleep from her eyes and slowly sat up, stifling a yawn behind her hand and pushing strands of her hair out of her face. "You didn't wake me... Even if you had come to bed with me I doubt I would have woken up, I'm a heavy sleeper and with everything we went through last night I could probably sleep all day." She replied, fluffing up her pillow and pulling it beneath her as she rolled over onto her side and studied Leo's face. "Did you sleep at all?"

"I did. I don't need as much sleep now as I did as a human." He replied marking his page and setting the book aside, he looked a little uncomfortable as he leaned forward his elbows resting on his knees and she realized in his original form he was much bigger.

Tracey saw something was up and she refused to let a good friend hurt without trying to help. "Come here and tell me what's bothering you Leonardo, I can see it in your eyes and on your face that something is bothering you." She moved over a little and sat up to give him some more space.

Leo sat on the edge of the bed and the dip was so significant Tracey all but fell into his lap. He lifted her up and tucked her in next to him. "This." He replied and motioned to them sitting on the bed with him being significantly larger than her. "I know I am who I am and I don't really want to change it but I do miss being human sized, and I am going to miss some of the perks."

Tracey slowly rested a hand on his arm and he looked at her. "It's like you said before, 'True acceptance comes from within,' but I can understand where you're coming from. It's going to take a little while to get used to the way things were... but we can at least enjoy the time that we still have now."

He smiled slightly and cupped her cheek, his whole hand was bigger than her face but he touched her like she was made of the finest crystal while he leaned down to kiss her. Leaning in closer, Tracey tenderly wrapped her arms around Leo's neck and kissed him in return, it didn't feel weird at all. Tracey didn't care about appearance, she always found that it was what the person or creature was like on the inside that counted, nothing else mattered. She was just getting into the kiss when her phone started ringing in her satchel. It rang with shrill persistence and after an annoyed growl Leo reached over to the chair and grabbed her satchel handing it to her so she could dig her phone out.

She touched Leo's cheek before answering the phone. "Hello this is Tracey, how can I help you?" She asked, opening the phone and putting it to her ear.

"You have done well, but your job is not yet done." The voice from the antiseptic room filled her head and she saw the room around her fading into a field of white. The phone crackled and static filled her ears as vertigo dragged at her senses. "You have done well but your job is not yet done." The voice intoned again and she felt reality slipping away. She didn't know who the voice belonged to, a voice that sounded like all the voices that ever were and ever would be but it seemed familiar. Images of four giant turtles, a huge bipedal rat, a woman with dark hair and eyes, a Large blond man and a smaller blond man then more images of people who seemed so familiar but the names were always just out of reach.

"You have done well but your job is not yet done." The voice again as the whiteness overtook her and she slid from consciousness.

Artemis woke wrapped in a firm embrace that left her feeling a little claustrophobic until she saw the heavily muscled green arm of Raphael holding her close to his body.

She let her gaze travel up the arm to the armor plated chest of his original turtle form to his face which was watching her face closely. His hazel eyes held a faint wariness that was at odds with his physique and she had to smile a little. "Oh chill Raph, I'm not gonna have a fit of the vapors." She said the last in a down home southern drawl and he grinned.

"Hey I've seen what you can do when you're startled." He retorted and loosened his grip so she could lean up.

"Fair enough." She ran a hand through her bed tangled hair.

He rested a hand casually on her hip and stared at the way it engulfed her ample hip the dark green skin a stark contrast to her very pale skin. "It's kinda pretty." Artemis remarked looking down at the contrast too.

"Now that's a word I'm not used to being called." He said and shook his head moving his hand away from her hip.

Artemis sat up and all but crawled up his body which did interesting things to him but he kept his eyes on her face. She ran a hand over his head the bandana absent for once and he felt a shiver thrill down his spin when she used those long nails of hers to scrape gently at the back of his skull. "No… not pretty, handsome, devilish, maybe even sinister but not pretty." She said softly leaning in.

He growled low in his throat and pulled her in tight so he could kiss her and the thought floated through his head that he didn't care that she was thirteen years older than him, experience was a hell of a good thing in this regard. He kissed her like he was trying to breath all of her in and she matched him. When he slowly let her go she was flushed and breathing a little fast. "Holy hell…" He breathed trying not to act on all the things he wanted to do in that moment.

He reminded himself that she wasn't going to be there long, that she was thirteen years older than him, that she was in love with someone else, he'd heard her talking to Tracey about the guy from Greece, Iolaus. He told himself that she was human and he was so much bigger than her, he'd break her, she was human and he was a damned turtle so it was basically beasiality and therefore wrong. He felt a pang of loss for the human form he'd only had for a few days but he ruthlessly ignored it, he'd made his choice, to save his brothers, to go back to who he knew he really was. He tried to apply cold logic to the arousal, the need he felt but it didn't change anything. He gripped her hips and pulled her in flush against him and was rewarded with the gasp he'd been craving as he bent to kiss her again only to hear her phone go off in her satchel.

He tried to ignore it and knew she was doing the same but the persistent ringing did what logic couldn't and with a growl he reached down and dragged the satchel up off the floor. She took it with a scowl and he smirked knowing whoever was dumb enough to interrupt like this was going to get an earful. She answered the phone...and vanished the phone dropping into his lap. He grabbed it up and put it to his ear. "You have done well, but your job is not yet done." A voice that sounded like a crowd of voices speaking in unison intoned before the phone went dead.

He dropped the phone and realized her satchel had vanished with her. He felt like he'd lost something more half sitting in his empty bed the scent of her still sweet on the sheets. He ground his hands into his eyes then got up when he heard a knock on the door. Answering it he saw Leo holding Tracey's cellphone and knew she was gone too, the look on Leo's face must match his he knew. The loss of something indefinable and precious but when Mikey and Donnie poked their heads out of their rooms Leo and Raph knew the loss they felt now was minor compared to what it could have been. What Artemis and Tracey had kept it from being. Raph looked at Leo and held up his hand, Leo grasped it and they nodded once, they were bonded together by the love they had shared for two women from another world and they would honor that bond. For now it was time to explain to Mikey and Donnie what had happened to the girls, memories could come later.


End file.
